Workplace bullying in medical institutions: Response to Karpagam.

In India, workplace bullying is generally actionable under the law only if bullying behavior is directed against sections acknowledged as being vulnerable (also known as harassment) or if it amounts to criminal wrong such as assault or battery (or sometimes "ragging"). This is bizarre considering the fact that workplace bullying is unconstitutional in the context of Articles 21, 42, 43 of the Constitution of India. We therefore assume that bullying, irrespective of the caste factor, is a serious problem. In cases of suicide, it is tricky to label bullying as abetment, even for the courts, because the perceptions of the victim are also important. The latter, unfortunately, are inaccessible hence one has to work it out retrospectively, using circumstantial evidence.

Workplace bullying in healthcare facilities: Role of caste and reservation.

Medical education in India is afflicted with a culture of abuse and workplace bullying of junior doctors and medical students. This abuse is often rationalised on grounds of so-called high standards of healthcare delivery. Poor standards of work sometimes get attributed to caste-based reservations vs admissions based on "merit" due to elitist mindsets that prevail in our society. The cycle of abuse that goes on in medical colleges is incorporated (though not in a legal sense) into its hierarchical structure. Focussing attention only on casteism tends to overshadow the bullying of doctors and medical students by their senior colleagues at the workplace.

Unmasking N95 for COVID-19 health-care workers in India.

A general term N95 Mask has been widely used by all including the health care personnel. It has been use incorrectly by all and it should be replaced with the term filtering facepiece respirator. There are two types of respirators being used in the world. One is the industrial type whereas the other one is the medical surgical one. The medical surgical masks are an intermediate product between the industrial and the triple layer medical mask. Many other equivalent products like KN95 masks are also available in the market. There is an urgent need of certification because this is the only way quality face masks can be provided to the public in these difficult times of COVID-19. This is essential because of the entry of many counterfeit and uncertified respirators have entered the market.

Not a case for social triage.

I request the author of the letter "Institutions should take responsibility for student suicides" to refrain from passing unwarranted judgement on a matter that is still before the courts. It is premature to implicate the medical education system and its institutions for a possible role in the untimely death of Dr Payal Tadvi.

What is wrong with the MCI?

In the wake of the Medical Council of India's (MCI) take on the promotion of faculty recently, it is clear that the faculty of medical institutions across the country are in a state of alarm. A situation in which the whole onus of research is put on the faculty is quite quirky when there is no consideration of the fact that most medical colleges in India do not have a system of intramural funding, apt infrastructure and a pertinent environment for carrying out good research.