contend withwhen netas babus cops join inpowerful people in this country are no strangers to abusing power so as disturbing as it is its perhaps not surprising that politicians bureaucrats and police often do their bit to make doctors feel unsafe andor humiliated and sometimes drive those who are trained to save lives to take their own livesgynecologist dr archana sharma from dausa rajasthan wrongly accused of murder when a patient died committed suicide in march post a successful delivery the mother of the child died of postpartum haemorrhage police booked dr sharma under ipc section 302 following angry demonstrations led by politiciansthat was against laid down procedures last year national medical commission nmc had issued guidelines requiring police to send medical negligence criminal complaints to the district medical councils medical board before an arrest experts must hear the case and the doctors defence must be heardbut as the dausa tragedy showed police does not comply and the nmc seems powerlessin her suicide note dr sharma had written dont harass innocent doctors that message should have had some effect on our politicians but it didntdr raj bahadur vicechancellor of baba farid university of health sciences in punjabs faridkot district was forced by punjab health minister chetan singh jouramajra to lie down on a damaged mattress in front of staff and patients he resigned a few hours laterdelhibased dr rohan krish nan founding member of feder ation of all india medical association faima doesnt mince words politicians are so arrogant they forget the dignity service and dedication of doctorsthis arrogance is obviously infectious in tamil nadu a medical officer was transferred out of kanyakumari because the district collector reportedly didnt like his body language the transfer followed a fivehour review meeting held in may during which the collector m arvind hauled up dr allan major incharge of the rashtriya bal swasthya karyakram for allegedly browsing on his phonethere should be an inquiry and the doctors should be given a chance to explain suspension and transfers cant be done without due process says tamil nadu government doctors association president dr k senthila doctor in mohalis medical college highlights a hazard doctors all over india have to cope with people often drop names of local politicians and threaten doctors with reprisals if they dont see the patient on a prioritysurgeonactivistwriter dr sanjay nagral points to mumbai where the countrys richest civic corporation the bmc operates five medical colleges but senior staff is at the beck and call of local netas deans get their staff to comply with the demands of corporators or local politicians says dr nagral who has worked with civic hospitals for decades it gets worse corporators and their entourages have been known to enter deans offices or even sterile icuswhile every assault and humiliation is indefensible does the sheer frequency of these incidents point to some systemic triggers experts are dividedhealthcare heal thyselfthe root of the problem many experts believe is india shortage of doctors and healthcare infrastructure