Caste-based discrimination in Indian hospitals: a blight for youngsters of the 21st century

Barua and Verma assess the role of caste in workplace bullying at Indian healthcare facilities in their recent Comment in IJME (1). They examine the possible role of caste in mental violence suffered by trainee doctors. They conclude with a call to address the issue of mental health needs of doctors. It is true that doctors work under tremendous stress, have to make rapid decisions, sometimes consider the death of a patient as a personal failure, and frequently wonder what more could have been done to save a life. I believe that should not be a pretext to shield habitual offenders of caste-based violence which, sadly, the authors appear to be doing in their Comment. Sylvia Karpagam correctly states that caste-washing the healthcare system will do little to address its discriminatory practices (2).