Health care on drip

75% doctors have at one time or another faced verbal or physical abuse, according to a study

In March, doctors in four government hospitals across Maharashtra were assaulted by angry mobs, which prompted junior doctors to go on a flash strike. This triggered a public health crisis in the state and more than 500 surgeries had to be postponed or cancelled. The same month, more than 1,000 doctors took to the streets in Chennai to protest the assault on a doctor, again in a government hospital. 

Doctors in private hospitals too have faced violence recently. In February, a mob attacked a hospital in Kolkata after a girl, who had been admitted with stomach pain, died. Another hospital came