Around this time of the year, Kolkata prepares itself for Durga Pujo, making idols, building pandals, and ornamenting itself with bright lights. This year, however, the light is shining from candles held by thousands of protestors seeking justice for Abhaya, the 31-year-old doctor who was brutally murdered and raped on the dreadful night of August 9 at the RG Kar Hospital.
Junior doctors have been weathering all storms to stand for their late colleague and demand better security measures for themselves at their workplaces. ‘Today Abhaya, next who?’ they fear as hospitals under the West Bengal government stand in a lamentable state.
While justice for Abhaya remains the top priority of their campaign, junior doctors have a five-point demand from the Mamata Banerjee-led government before they commit to resuming work. They want safer conditions and an assurance that the plight that Abhaya met does not befall anyone else.
From rickshaw pullers to shopkeepers, from old to young, the protests in Kolkata, otherwise known as the ‘City of Joy’, have now become a people’s movement. This is perhaps the biggest mass movement the city has seen in the recent past, with people from all walks of life doing their bit by joining the demonstration.
The investigation of the rape and murder case, meanwhile, is taking new turns every day. It is being handled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which has arrested a number of suspects including RG Kar Medical College’s sacked principal Sandip Ghosh. A Civic Volunteer attached with the Kolkata Police, Sanjay Roy has been arrested on the charge of rape and murder.
Firstpost spoke to the junior doctors to get an insight into the ground reality of the protests.
RG Kar: A nexus of corruption?
Ghosh was first arrested by the investigative agency in an alleged financial irregularities case. In fact, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which also probing practices of corruption inside the hospital, has conducted multiple raids including in the ex-principal’s ancestral home in Kolkata.
What started as an investigation into the financial irregularities is now leading the CBI to unravel what might have happened on August 9.
Dr Anustup Mukherjee from Kolkata Medical College and a representative of the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front has been an active protestor. Talking to Firstpost about the case, he said, “There is nothing to deny the fact that the amount of financial scam that was going around in RGK for the last 3-4 years was huge.”
“There is a good amount of suspicion that we are now coming to know from some sources that the financial irregularities might be the reason behind the motive of the incident (rape and murder) that happened,” he added.
On the night of the crime and the subsequent morning, reports emerged that some unknown individuals tampered with the evidence which in turn derailed the investigation for a while. The former principal and a police from Tala Station have been found at the forefront of this.
“We do feel now, right at this point, that the act was heinous. But apart from that, the evidence tempering that has been done, we feel that is more heinous than the actual act because that was done to protect the actual criminals,” Anustup said.
The doctor, however, said that he and his fellow protestors have full faith in CBI and that they understand that the tampering of evidence might be the reason behind a delayed investigation.
‘We don’t feel safe’
The Supreme Court, during the first hearing of the case, ordered the protesting doctors to resume work. Similarly, the West Bengal government has also been urging them to return to their workplaces as they have a “responsibility towards patients.”
But there’s no way home until their demands are met, protesters said.
The fact that Abhaya was working on a night shift when she was assaulted, there is palpable fear among junior doctors for their safety.
Dr Priyanka Maitra Karak, a protesting doctor from Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital told Firstpost, “I am also studying in a government setup. When the news (about Abhaya) came, it was more than just a shock because for us, for doctors, hospitals are our second home. It is so unsafe right now that I am apprehensive about going back to work. I have this constant feeling in mind that something can happen to me.”
Karak said that she has to take breaks with her door open to attend to a patient in case of emergencies. However, since the incident happened at RG Kar, she and her fellow female colleagues feel insecure about their surroundings. “It’s like right now you know you’re going on your own accountability,” she said.
“We are abstaining from work because do not feel safe in the current scenario. The culprits might be roaming around us and unless they are identified and punished, we are not going back to work,” said Dr Anustup.
He added that the government-run hospitals have a rampant “threat culture” which makes it even more unsafe for junior doctors to operate. Undue advantages to selected doctors, connections with influential people in the government and misuse of power are what all the protesting doctors hope to eradicate through their demonstration.
‘Jr doctors can’t be blamed for deaths’
The Mamata-led government has claimed that several lives have been lost in government hospitals due to the absence of junior doctors.
The protesting doctors in turn blame the government for the poor health infrastructure in West Bengal.
“Junior Doctors cannot be blamed for patients’ suffering. Rather the poor infrastructure of all the government hospitals is the main cause of patients’ suffering. Only 2 per cent of the entire Doctors Fraternity consists of Junior Doctors. How can this 2 per cent create havoc? Moreover senior residents and faculties are constantly doing their duties while the protest continues,” said another active protestor, who wished to remain anonymous and studied in the same medical college as Abhaya.
Dr Anustup similarly said that junior doctors like himself are not allowed to perform complex hospital duties and are not even employees of the state yet. They work under the supervision of their seniors and hence their absence cannot be correlated to deaths.
“Why is it that patients from several districts of West Bengal are referred only to hospitals in Kolkata, especially when the government has built so many super-specialty hospitals across the state? There are many questions about the government’s focus on healthcare that we have at a time when we are getting blamed for deaths,” he said.
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Kolkata rape-murder: In Mamata vs protesters, junior doctors say ‘don’t feel safe anymore’
