Closing doors unjustified

The recent assault on a doctor at SMHS Hospital in Srinagar has rightly sparked outrage among the medical fraternity, leading to widespread protests by doctors and medical students. Such acts of violence are both shameful and unacceptable. No healthcare worker should ever feel unsafe in their place of duty, especially not in a hospital, a place meant for healing and compassion. However, while the anger of the medicos is justified, the response of shutting hospital services to patients raises troubling ethical questions. Doctors are the backbone of our healthcare system, especially in public hospitals where they serve large populations often under immense pressure and limited resources. An attack on a doctor is not just an attack on an individual; it’s an assault on the entire system that keeps our hospitals running. The authorities must act swiftly to ensure justice in this case, arrest those responsible, and put in place strong measures to protect medical personnel in the future. This includes better security in hospitals, legal safeguards, and zero tolerance for threats or intimidation. The decision by protesting doctors to suspend routine medical services, even if temporarily, has put patients, especially the poor and critically ill, in a perilous position. For many in the Kashmir Valley, government hospitals like SMHS are the only hope. Denying medical care as a form of protest, even for a day, risks turning victims into perpetrators, where the suffering of one wrong is answered by causing another. Doctors are human, and their demand for safety is legitimate. But their greater responsibility, one they have sworn to uphold, is to the patients who depend on them. Protest can and must take other forms: symbolic strikes, black badges, sit-ins, and press briefings that draw public and political attention without jeopardizing patient care.