Govt should focus on preventive medicine, punish unlawful behaviour against doctors: IMA president

New Delhi [India], June 16 : The government should 'concentrate its activities on preventive medicine' and punish unlawful behaviour of anybody who harms doctors, the Indian Medical Association said on Wednesday.
In a letter, Dr Vinayak Buvaji, president of the IMA said that the government needs to increase the share of the GDP devoted to betterment of the country's health systems and take help from think tanks for this.
"In India, the cause of violence against doctors is multi-layered. The government needs to increase the GDP with existing outburst of the Indian population towards betterment of health system after discussing with the think tanks," Buvaji said.
He further said with modern medicine progressing by leaps and bounds, the country's hospital and medical colleges had to keep pace with the present needs while working hand in hand with the government.
In light of the recent attacks on doctors, the IMA president wrote that while doctors did carry certain responsibilities, they have to also be borne by patients and their relatives, political parties and their party workers, hospital authorities, law maintaining machinery, print and electronic media and the government to see that health care improves and violence against doctors is strongly dealt with.
"A study has shown that 75 per cent of doctors in India have faced violence at some point of time in their life... There is no reason to wait now to stop this violence against doctors and take preventive measures," he wrote.
"The government should concentrate its activities on preventive medicine. The government should punish unlawful behaviour of anybody who harms the doctor and vandalizes the hospital," Buvaji concluded.