Call Security before Declaring Death: PGI tells resident Doctors

Many incidents have been reported in the past where doctors have faced harsh agitation from their patients as well as the attendants where they have been beaten up, hurled abuses at or threatened.

One such recent incident happened at PGIMER on 21^st March when a resident doctor was verbally abused by the relatives of a 13-year-old patient and a dialysis machine costing over 21 lakh was also broken up in the incident. Dr Sandeep Tula, vice-president, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) confirmed the incident and told the Hindustan Times, "The boy had end-stage cancer. For three days, the doctors had been informing the father that bone marrow transplant was the only solution, but his family could not afford the expenses. The child died on Wednesday night, following which his family started hurling abuses at the female doctor and broke a machine."

Responding to the incident, Dr Jagat Ram told HT "This behavior is highly inappropriate and will not be tolerated. The doctors give their best to save lives and do not deserve this treatment by attendants. Moreover, by breaking the machine the family has impacted the treatment of many others. We have filed a police complaint against the family."

"For their safety, I have told all resident doctors working in the emergency to inform the QRT before informing attendants about the death of a patient. They should be extra cautious in case they sense that the attendants are going to create nuisance," the director added.

Resident doctors at the institute have been demanding a QRT for a long time now, with the authorities finally announcing action in light of the recent event. The daily adds that the message has been communicated verbally only, no orders have been provided in writing yet. A senior administrative officer informed that a meeting will be held between the hospital administration the security personnel as well as the resident doctors at the institute and a number of measures such as above would be finalized there