Much of the conversation today is focussed on the recent rape and murder at Kolkata’s R G Kar Hospital. It’s sad that it took an extreme episode to finally talk about the challenges that women medicos have been facing for years, compelling some of us to take self-defence classes.
As an intern, I had rural postings in peripheral areas in PHCs , where we had to do night duty for casualty cases. We would get traffic accident cases regularly, where the patient would be inebriated and invariably misbehave with us. Lack of proper security personnel worsened the situation. Often, bystanders and goons would also join in.
There have been case fatalities where doctors have been at the receiving end of the wrath of the patient’s family and bystanders, who refuse to accept that the patient was critical when brought in. We have heard of innumerable cases of doctors being beaten up by a patient’s family. This kind of violence against healthcare workers has become the norm, rather than the exception. We have also recently heard of an incident at a hospital in Delhi where a patient walked around semi-naked and made inappropriate gestures at women doctors.
In remote areas, commuting to and from the medico’s residence/hostel to the hospital is a challenge since official vehicles are not always available. The duty doctor has to arrange their own means of commuting, which mostly includes walking alone on the streets. Sometimes, there is no dedicated duty doctor room in departments and residents don’t have a proper place to rest. Some hospital areas also lack a designated changing room for women residents.
Simple security measures can be reassuring for women residents. For example, provide official vehicles during odd hours to ensure safe pick-up and drop. Identify blind zones on campus that have no CCTV coverage. CCTVs ensure continuous monitoring and help security personnel respond promptly to any suspicious activity. The campus must be well-lit and guards posted at dark spots. Also, signage must be put up at various places, highlighting penalties under the law for violence against medicos.
While immediate steps are necessary, we must also address the larger systemic issues that contribute to the vulnerability of women in the healthcare sector. For long, we have been urging the government and relevant authorities to implement the Central Healthcare Protection Act, dedicated to the safety of healthcare workers, particularly women, in their workplaces. We have been campaigning for a government oversight committee to regularly audit the safety measures in place at medical institutions and ensure compliance with the highest standards of security.
Above all, a safe space mostly exists in the mind. So we must foster a culture of respect within our medical institutions. Regular training programmes on gender sensitivity, workplace harassment and the legal rights of healthcare workers should be made mandatory for staff and students. There should also be counselling services or legal aid for healthcare workers suffering from workplace harassment.
As medical interns, women have devised their own armour. Almost everybody these days carries pepper spray, shares their live location with family and takes care to come “appropriately” dressed at their workplace. As colleagues, we watch each other’s backs, but unfortunately nothing seems to be enough. Fear of violence/sexual assault exists in the mind of every woman doctor at work. And that’s really not a good space to be in when she has to deliver the best care she can. All I can say is that this case is just the tip of the iceberg.
The writer, a former senior resident at AIIMS, New Delhi, is a clinician
