Karachi, Corruption in general and frustration in particular are the main causes that trigger a violent reaction from people, said Dr Murad Moosa, Chair Department of Psychiatry Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), in a symposium held on Friday on Violence in Health Care Settings.
Quoting a World Bank report of 2004, Dr Moosa said that corruption is the single most cause deterring social and economic development of the country. “That’s why, one third of our population is below the poverty line, which in turn is driving people to commit crimes and becoming more violent.”
Giving the example of a bus driver, he said that living in Karachi, this man broke every law in the book and did whatever he felt like doing but once he went to Dubai after getting a job as a taxi driver, this man’s behavior changed completely. “It was the same man following every rule and talking politely, because he knew that if he did something wrong, he will be punished. Unfortunately, in our country this fear of law has gone out the window,” said Dr Moosa.
Hina Jillani, a lawyer and the Director of AGHS Legal Aid Cell, said: “For such a long time, the judiciary has been fighting for independence and freedom but without understanding the meaning of independence at all. The role of the judiciary is to exercise its wisdom through well articulated laws as the penalty has to be loud and clear to be followed.”
Jillani said that there is very little in the law to protect the victim. “If a person comes to me for help, I have to use whatever I have at hand. I can not ask people to wait for a social reform, so that their issues are addressed.” She said that most of the times, doctors put up with all the insults and abuses because of the ethical dilemmas that they face about how to refuse a patient or discharge them if the attendants misbehave with them. “The pendulum has swung, doctors that were considered Gods are now being abused and threatened, so the need is to reestablish the credibility of the doctors and take into account the views from the other side (patients) as well,” said Advocate Jillani. Giving an example of the recent incident of local shop owners going on a rampage in Islamabad, Jillani said that people are resorting to violence because it is generally believed that it is the easiest way of getting a reaction from the state and the authorities.
Violence in hospitals has increased in Karachi, with health workers exposed to assault, physical and verbal threats and hospital property open to vandalism. According to a survey of over 380 doctors and emergency room staff at four tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, over 70 per cent had been verbally abused and 20 per cent physically assaulted last year.
Dr Seemin Jamali of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), who spoke about the blast at JPMC and demanded that the encroachments inside the hospital premises be removed so that the hospital could have a proper boundary wall.
The symposium will be followed by a workshop today (March 27) to create a network of key stakeholders who can continue to work on this issue.
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