“No safety, no duty” chants resonate loud and clearly at Indian hospitals as resident doctors refuse to work, protesting against the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old colleague in Kolkata.
The result of this protest — patients running from pillar to post, seeking medical aid; elective surgeries being deferred and a sense of chaos at government hospitals across the nation.
The protests and the subsequent closure of OPDs at hospitals across the nation come after the horrific
rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in the intervening hours last Thursday and Friday. The autopsy report reveals the true extent of the brutality of the crime — the
accused allegedly throttled her to death, with her body bearing injuries on her belly, hand and collarbone also being shattered.
Doctors register their protest
Resident doctors in West Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra and other parts of the country have gone on an indefinite strike today (August 13) after the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) called for one, demanding better security for doctors and for speedy justice in the Kolkata rape case.
At the RG Kar Medical College, doctors have been protesting against the hospital authorities since news broke of the crime, demanding a fast-track judicial inquiry into the rape-murder as well as the removal of the principal, medical superintendent, dean, and head of department (HoD) of Pulmonary Medicine and the additional commissioner of police under whose jurisdiction the local police post falls.
As protests continue at the institute, the principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital resigned on Monday (August 12) and the Medical Superintendent Dr Sanjay Vashisth was also removed from the post.
However, doctors say that isn’t enough. They demand better security at the job, with Dr Rajan Sharma, a former president of the Indian Medical Association, saying urgent changes need to be made to the way government hospitals operate, particularly with regard to access.
Doctors have also demanded that the Kolkata Police complete their investigation by August 14 (Wednesday). “The cease work protest will continue till our demands are met. We have been very clear about our demands. We want a judicial probe into the incident,” a protesting junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was quoted as saying.
In New Delhi too, doctors have gone on strike, carrying posters that read, “doctors aren’t punching bags”, demanding justice and better security measures.
Similar scenes also played out in Maharashtra, with Maharashtra State Association of Residential Doctors president Dr Pratik Debaje telling PTI, “From 9 am (we have stopped work at all OPDs (out-patient departments) and elective services have been stopped. Now, only emergency services are operational across the state.”
Doctors in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Chandigarh have also followed suit. At King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, protesting doctors gathered in the morning and marched to the outdoor patients’ department to stop work there. Patients and their relatives were seen banging on the OPD’s shut doors, demanding that they be treated.
Junior doctors at the state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi started a ‘pen-down’ agitation, boycotting OPD services and elective surgeries. “Our protest excludes emergency services as we do not want any patient in need to suffer,” Ankit Kumar, president of the Junior Doctors’ Association (JDA) at RIMS, told PTI.
Patients suffer
The doctors’ protests across the country have impacted patients — many had to return home without a consultation or their surgery was delayed.
At the RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, Al Amin Mollah and his wife Ayesha were left looking for a doctor for their baby, but to no avail. In an Indian Express report, Mollah said: “Our baby was operated upon a few weeks ago here and has stitches. The doctors asked me to visit the outpatient department to get the stitches removed. I have been here since morning, and today everything is shut here. I have been told nothing can be done and I should go to a local doctor. So, I am returning. Let’s see where I can go with my baby.”
And Mollah isn’t alone. Thousands of patients at the various state-run hospitals in West Bengal struggled to find a doctor to see them, as the medical professionals continue to keep up their strike.
Saiful Alam, a resident of Murshidabad district, reached Kolkata on Sunday evening to get admitted at Shambhunath Pandit Hospital early on Monday. “I had come to Kolkata on Sunday evening and spent the entire night on the hospital premises. But the next morning, I was given another date for admission,” Alam told news agency PTI.
The situation is no different in Delhi, especially at AIIMS — which sees the largest Out-Patient Department (OPD) crowd. On Tuesday, the institute saw an 80 per cent drop in surgeries and 35 per cent dip in admissions, owing to the indefinite strike of the doctors.
Among the worst-hit are patients who come from far-off distances to the national capital for treatment. Avadesh Kumar Jha, a 48-year-old cancer patient from Bihar’s Siwan, could not meet his doctor owing to the strike. His brother has been standing in queue since 2 am for a consultation, but it seems their wait will have to continue.
Patients across hospitals complained about the lack of doctors, with Arun Kumar, a patient who travelled over 300 km to get treated at the OPD of KGMU, telling NDTV, “Doctors have the right to protest, but what about us? We have come from so far.”
Doctors Speak
But despite the many difficulties patients are enduring, the junior doctors are adamant about continuing their strike. One doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata said: “We are doctors. We have no problem in giving treatment but this cause is much bigger. We will continue to fight for justice.”
Others have also echoed similar comments, saying the protests were a bigger cause and needed urgent attention. The president of the All India Medical Association, Dr Rohan Krishnan, said the protest was important because it raises questions about the investigation being conducted by the police. Moreover, it “exposes the lack of security for female doctors”.
The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association of India (FORDA) has also written to Home Minister Amit Shah on the same, listing five demands: expeditious acceptance of residents’ demands, resignation of all the responsible authorities, no police brutality, swift justice for the deceased and security protocols for healthcare workers.
In the same fashion, the Indian Medical Association penned a letter to Union Health Minister JP Nadda, writing: “Pedestrian working conditions, inhuman workload and violence in the workplace are the reality. Doctors take huge stress on themselves. Doctors deserve better consideration from the governments. The murder of this young lady doctor is not the first neither it would be the last if corrective measures are not taken.”
Lack of security for doctors
The rape-murder of the trainee doctor in Kolkata once again highlights the lack of security that doctors are offered. Medical officials in the country say that in addition to the sexual violence that they face, they also are at the receiving end of attacks from family members, especially after delivering bad news. A survey by the IMA found 75 per cent of doctors in the country had faced some form of violence.
The IMA has in their letter to JP Nadda pointed out that 25 states have laws to prevent attacks on doctors, but these are mostly ineffective on the ground, as there is no central enactment on the issue.
With inputs from agencies
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