A resolution on ‘Violence Against Doctors’ was unanimously passed in the General Assembly of the World Medical Association (WMA) at Berlin, Germany, Tuesday. WMA treasurer Dr Ravi Wankhedkar, who was given the responsibility for framing a policy document on ‘Workplace violence against health care professionals’, told The Indian Express that it was unanimously approved by the general assembly.
Dr Wankhedkar, the treasurer of WMA since three years, said that violence in the health sector has increased substantially in the new millennium, especially in time of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“All persons have the right to work in a safe environment without the threat of violence. Workplace violence includes both physical and non-physical, such as (psychological) violence, intimidation and cyber harassment, among others,” said Dr Wankhedkar, who has been the former national president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).
While workplace violence is indisputably a global issue, various cultural differences among the countries must be taken into consideration in order to accurately understand the concept of violence on a universal level. For the purposes of the document, the broad WHO definition of workplace violence has been used which is “The intentional use of power, threatened or actual, against another person or against a group, in work-related circumstances, that either results in or has a high degree of likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development, or deprivation”.
The resolution also including cyber and social media harassment particularly includes online threats and intimidation towards the physicians, who take part in a public debate in order to give adequate information and fight disinformation. Dr Wankhedkar said these physicians are increasingly confronted with, amongst others, malicious messages on the social media, death threats and intimidating home visits.
Condemning any form of violence against the healthcare personnel and facilities, which may include coworker violence, aggressive behavior exhibited by the patients or family members as well as acts of malicious intent from individuals in the general public, the WMA has called on its constituent members, the health authorities and other relevant stakeholders to act through a collaborative, coordinated and effective strategy approach. Dr Wankhedkar added that governments should allocate appropriate and sustainable funds in order to effectively tackle violence in the health sector.
