NEW DELHI: Nearly one in every two doctors suffers from violence at public hospitals, a survey conducted at Maulana Azad Medical College has revealed. The study covered 169 junior residents and senior residents, working mostly with Lok Nayak and G B Pant — hospitals attached to MAMC The respondents said verbal abuse (75%) was the most common form of violence, followed by threats (51%) and physical assault (12%). All doctors who faced physical violence said they felt angry, frustrated and fearful. Some of them, the survey report published in the National Medical Journal of India said, felt fatigued and had low self-esteem.Dr Vinod, general secretary of MAMC’s Resident Doctors’ Association, told TOI that violence continues to grow despite assurances from the government. “It is humiliating and frustrating either to be beaten up or abused for no fault. If there is no ICU bed available or overcrowding, how is the doctor to blame?” He added that there was an urgent need to restrict entry of visitors to hospitals.Citing recent incidents where one JR in the orthopaedic department was slapped and another female senior resident doctor from the paediatric department verbally abused, Dr Vinod said: “Everyone wants to be attended to on priority. Some even flaunt their VIP connections.” According to the MAMC survey, “death of a patient” and “delay in initiation of treatment” were the most common reasons for violence.Dr Harsh Verma, president of Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital’s RDA, said: “Ours is a 1,200-bedded hospital. But there are only eight ICU beds. Relatives get aggressive if we aren’t able to provide a bed with ventilator support.” Many Delhi government hospitals — and even those run by the Centre in Delhi — have, in fact, hired bouncers to manage crowds in the emergency.Dr Balvinder Singh, member of the governing council of Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association of Delhi, said doctors on emergency duty had to prioritize cases, but attendants often felt their patient was being neglected. “Many times, poor patients are referred from one hospital to the other due to lack of equipment. It leads to tension,” he said.Violence against doctors is also seen in private hospitals, but it’s mostly due to cost escalation or unnecessary investigations withholding a deceased’s body.Not all cases are reported to the police though, as doctors want to avoid legal hassles. The MAMC survey revealed that only 23 of those who experienced workplace violence reported the incident.