The harassment of doctors at the hand of attendants is the new norm in the subcontinent and most of the times the authorities have tried to justify it with the pretext of it being an inevitable para-phenomenon of ‘public dealing’ where a person interacts with a hundred people of a hundred different proclivities and temperaments every day. However, in Kashmir this harassment has mis-evolved into a very suspicious and malevolent trend i.e people who hold important posts in the state perpetuating this ‘dignitary trespass’. From a particular official barging into the room of a medical officer and threatening him of ‘dire consequences’, to some minister harassing and abusing a senior psychiatrist for not wearing an apron, to a particular ‘representative of people’ (representation being questioned largely) barging into a hospital for a ‘surprise visit’ and using invectives for the duty doctors, if one with the eyes of his mind wide open, tries to delve into the intricacies, a very succinct pattern and plan seems to be at execution.
So, what could be the possible reasons for a particular person coming into the causality of a tertiary level hospital, with armed guards who are carrying heavy weapons into the faces of already timid doctors, and the patients who suffer from illnesses like heart failure and respiratory failure, paying absolutely no heed to the dictum of ‘arms not in hospital’ or at-least in the casualty block.
So, let us start from the superficialities of the case. It is seen that most of the times the people who are involved in such, dignitary trespasses are those politicians or officers whose positions are actually very precarious, whether it is for their public support or other weaknesses in their official or political conduction. Such people crave for attention to up their tarnished image in some cases and politcal credibility in the other and sometimes, very ironically, the both. It has become evident overtime, that the masses harbour a certain level of dislike for the medical professionals. Nobody is to blamed for such a feeling, it is partly a fault of the system which doesn’t provide enough facilities to the masses and every caveat is then attributed to the doctors community, partly the society which has been intolerant to most of the events around them and partly those few doctors who time and again irk the masses by involvement in private practice and other desecrate activities. This is where the certain pariah comes in and tries, very cunningly to avail of that malevolence, he/she knows that if he/she pretends to unleash himself on a doctor or anybody from the medical fraternity, it will be like giving a proxy vent to the grievances of the innocent, emotion driven mainstream masses. He will naturally and very conveniently be looked upon as a saviour, and instead of his mis-doings, he will become the hero of the moment for the media as well a the simpleton. How easy!!! You go into a hospital/district level health centre, shout on a doctor, use slangs in your half broken English and your boon is granted, you are the new-age Thor who has suddenly saved the world from the destruction of the alien, blue eyed, white clothed doctors.
But, is that enough or could it run deeper? When you are in a conflict hit region with multiple stake holders and the two biggest strategic giants, things always need to be looked with a more sharper eye. It is a well known fact that doctors have been the most active and dedicated professionals in the current conflict, especially when the trend has mostly leaned towards the civilians or policemen being injured in protests, cross fires or around encounter sites. The doctors have given in their best: the example being the 2016 uprising which saw hundreds of ‘pellet victims’, injured civilians and policemen. It is assumed that the ophthalmology department of one of the tertiary level hospitals, with a paltry staff or 12–15 attended to and treated patients in lakhs. Similarly there was an account of five doctors not leaving the emergency OT for five days straight, from the very same hospital, needless to say that many a times the doctors shared the accounts of such injuries on their social media as well. So, could it be a scheme to acrimonize the people towards those who are helping them in such cauldrous situations, to put in an element of mistrust into their hearts toward the works, narrations and credibility of doctors as far as ‘conflict medicine’ is concerned and at the same time put in a perpetual rancour in the hearts of doctors against the masses with an aim of creating a gross survivor-provider trust deficit in a nation which is already at the brink of extinction? This is something that need to be thought over, again and again.
One more theory, which is seemingly more plausible is the ‘emotional harness to drive attention’ theory. The last few months have seen a large number of civilians being killed or injured around encounter sites or during protests. The masses and intellectuals, local and International have collectively resounded with condemnations and criticism. So, could all of this be a part of a well devised plan, a stunt to divert the attention of masses from larger geopolitical issues to trivial but emotionally enchanting ideas of ‘bloody doctor in a cozy room’ (needless to say that our hospitals do not have proper toilets, there is no arrangement for heating, so how does a question of cozy rooms in the hospital arise?). Yes definitely, it could be.
Just yesterday a video of a local youth being beaten up in some Indian state by the right-wing goons, for his ascriptions to Kashmiri nationality, became viral. Such videos have been a reason of embarrassment for the establishment, among the rational Indian masses as well as internationally. Within a span of 30 minutes it was shared more than 300 times and had more than 50000 views and drew flak from all the corridors of rational and logical thinking as facade of the ‘intolerant India’. So, could such stunts be deliberately schemed to shift the frame of focus from a particular misadventure to an issue which has repeatedly been availed of by politicians for their personal political benefits.
All such issues need to be thought over by us over and over again. It is a right time we need to identify our heroes and come forward for their defence whenever their dignity is at stake of being trampled by the obnoxious ‘dignitary trespass’.
Writer is a published author and a social activist.
