About 30 years ago you did not hear a doctor being attacked. Today it is a very common (sadly) event and you hear about it very regularly.

I was in a small city R. One doc was attacked a few days ago and on the day of my finance training there was a protest meet. One of the very famous doctors who runs a hospital told me “I did not go because the family of the patient FOUND OUT about the overcharging by the hospital (doctor?) and I am not sure what happened was wrong”.

It got me thinking. Now let us take the case of a 74 year old army man who goes to a branch of Apollo hospital. He is at the slight onset of dementia so his 69 year old wife is a little worried to leave him alone. So this not very fit 69 year old has to run around the hospital for all the services – including getting forms signed – for getting the services free or at a subsidized rate. She has arthiritis herself and she hates the 21 degrees at which the airconditioner is set. When she meets the doctor, doctors have a sense of “I want to get rid of you quickly” attitude and she is not able to understand 80 percent of what they tell her. She does not want to sound stupid, so she nods.

Now she is completely stressed. She has carried all the medical records of her husband, but in the melee is unable to find something. Double trouble.

Now if a small room was available for people to sit and a qualified, calm person just listened to them, they would be calmer. This person could be a non medical person who understands human behavior. I wonder if IFA could go there and do volunteering. They should be trained in some basic medical terminology and they should be able to explain the processes and procedures. There might be a slight increase in costs, but it will reduce the stress. There could be junior doctors working who could sit and talk to the patients or their spouses or children. Of course it would be nice if senior doctors had more patience, but this is a good interim measure at least.

Now into this stressful environment when a few hundred relatives are allowed into the hospital, stressed patients, impatient and harried doctors – we are talking of a perfect environment for a fight. Suddenly the arguments turn bitter, one slap, one kick,…and the place is on fire. Complete fire.

We need to bring back the “family physician” who will recommend the patient to go to a specialist. He should even charge a fee for recommendig – ultimately I will be able to say “I went because you recommended me”..Then the patient should go to a specialist who will have a background of the patient.

What really happened? too much stress. Nobody has time to know what is happening…dry gunpowder. All it needed was a matchstick.