An Oxfam India survey has revealed that 33% of Muslim respondents feel they have experienced discrimination on the basis of their religion in hospitals. The survey found blatant discrimination in the country’s healthcare system with 22% of respondents from Scheduled Tribes, 21% from Scheduled Castes and 15% from Other Backward Classes also feeling discriminated against.
The survey, ‘Securing Rights of Patients in India’, was conducted in 28 states and five Union Territories and a total of 3,890 people took part in it.
Oxfam India undertook the survey to assess the extent to which the Charter of Patients’ Rights, prepared by the National Human Rights Commission in 2018, was being implemented. Data for the survey was collected from February to April 2021.
“One in four Indians faced discrimination while accessing health services due to their caste and religion,” Oxfam India said, citing findings of the survey.
“A third of Muslim respondents, over 20 per cent Dalit and Adivasi respondents, and 30 per cent of overall respondents reported being discriminated against on the grounds of religion, caste or because of illness or health conditions in a hospital or by a healthcare professional,” the report claimed.
“The survey shows that the basic rights of patients in India are being routinely denied in healthcare facilities for the poor and middle class alike. Skewed power dynamics with respect to class, caste, religion, and gender between the healthcare providers and patients deepen existing structural inequalities in the healthcare system,” Amitabh Behar, CEO, Oxfam India, said in a statement.
Anjela Taneja, head, inequality, health and education, Oxfam India, told Scroll that medical practitioners imbibe the same biases as the rest of society and these biases sometimes reflect in the ways in which they engage with patients. “Untouchability is still real. So, doctors may sometimes be reluctant to hold a Dalit person’s hand to check their pulse,” Taneja, who led the survey team, said. “Similarly, doctors may be reluctant to explain the nature of diseases and treatment to Adivasis believing that they are not likely to understand the information.”
Taneja also mentioned the campaigns targeting Muslims after the Tablighi Jamaat was held in the early days of the pandemic. “A particular community was vilified at the time, which was grossly unfair,” she said.
The Tablighi Jamaat was singled out and blamed by a large section of the media and politicians for spreading the coronavirus in the country. News channels and some politicians from the ruling BJP maliciously termed the coronavirus pandemic as ‘Corona Jihad’, ‘Terrorist Virus’, insinuating a Muslim-led conspiracy behind its spread.
“The Patients’ Rights Charter drafted by the ministry of health and family welfare needs to be immediately adopted by state governments along with robust grievance redressal mechanisms to provide citizens with recourse when things go wrong,” the report recommended.
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