Delhi violence: Doctors inspire many to promote compassion in health care

When violence was raging in Northeast Delhi last month, a small group of doctors risked their lives to operate on gunshot wounds and multiple fractures, treat severe burns and perform first aid. By doing so, the team from Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PMSF), has inspired medics across the country to join its mission to promote compassion in health care and advocate for the medical rights of the Indian people. A movement led by medical students, resident doctors and research scientists, PMSF has a simple agenda. “As doctors, our primary concern is supposed to be towards the patient,” says Harjit Singh Bhatti, national president, PMSF. “We want to appeal to the conscience of doctors and not let them forget this.”

etween the coronavirus threat and the Delhi riots, PMSF has been particularly busy the past few months.

“Our forum started in 2019 when a group of us doctors went to Muzaffarpur to investigate the child deaths caused by encephalitis,” recounts Bhatti. “We realised that many doctors’ associations and hospitals were scared to take a stand.” Back then, PMSF was simply an informal forum for doctors and interns at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Today, besides Delhi, it has members from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and other states. The scientist members of PMSF, all researchers and PhD students from AIIMS, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and other premier institutes in the country, are engaged in debunking misinformation and fake news being circulated in the public health space today. “For example, we have been tweeting against the latest myth propagated by many politicians that the novel coronavirus can be prevented by the use of cow dung and urine, or by homeopathy,” he says. “The idea is also to call out responsible post holders who have been making unscientific and irresponsible statements that could influence public health!”

Between the coronavirus threat and the Delhi riots, PMSF has been particularly busy the past few months. Its members set up a health camp at Shaheen Bagh, were on the spot to treat the injured when incidents at Jamia and JNU occurred, and were the first medics to reach Al Hind Hospital in Northeast Delhi. “In fact, when the doctors at Al Hind Hospital called us for help, we paid for critical medical supplies from our own pockets,” says Bhatti.

“To our dismay, our ambulance was stopped en route to Al Hind Hospital in Mustafabad where 10 gunshot victims were awaiting surgery.” Sadly, two victims died for want of medical attention, but Bhatti and his team were able to save the rest.

“During this time, when we were all overworked, short on sleep and exhausted, only one thing kept us going,” says Bhatti. “It was the relief on the faces of those who had lost faith in their own community as well as in the system at large.”

As the news of their work during the riots has spread, PMSF has received an outpouring of support from doctors across the country. “We get messages every day from doctors asking how they can contribute,” Bhatti says. Presently, what PMSF wants is for the government to set up a medical camp close to where the riot survivors are. Many patients still need medical attention, others need follow ups. “Our job was to provide the initial emergency services, now the government has to take charge of these patients,” he says. In order to do this, PMSF is advocating for a proper medical protocol to be put in place to deal with public health emergencies, be it riots, floods or epidemics. In the meantime, these idealistic medics remind doctors across the country every day of the Hippocratic Oath they took before starting medical practice. As Bhatti says: “This is our contribution to the building of a more compassionate, people-centric system of medicine.”

To learn more, follow @DrHarjitBhatti on Twitter or follow Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum on Facebook