By Sakshi Dayal and Subrata Nag Choudhury
KOLKATA (Reuters) – 5 years in the past, the federal government of West Bengal state in India pledged to clamp down on violence in opposition to docs. It promised public hospitals higher safety gear, feminine guards to assist feminine physicians and managed entry factors, in line with an inside authorities memo seen by Reuters.
None of those measures had been carried out on the public hospital the place a younger feminine physician was sexually assaulted and killed on Aug. 9, allegedly by a police volunteer, 4 trainee docs there informed Reuters.
As a substitute, within the days main as much as the homicide-assault, which prompted nationwide outrage and a docs strike, solely two male guards manned R.G. Kar Medical Faculty and Hospital, they mentioned. They have been supplemented by a number of closed circuit cameras that didn’t comprehensively cowl the sprawling premises, in line with the trainees.
One of many doorways of the lecture corridor the place the physician had been resting throughout a 36-hour shift when she was attacked had no lock, mentioned two different trainee docs who had additionally slept there. The air-con within the designated break room had malfunctioned, they mentioned.
After two docs at a special hospital have been assaulted by a affected person’s relations in 2019, West Bengal had promised to put in “effective security equipment and systems,” regulate entry and exit to hospital premises and create a compensation coverage for assaulted workers, in line with the state well being division memo dated June 17, 2019.
The 2-page doc, which is reported by Reuters for the primary time, was ready after chief minister Mamata Banerjee met that day with trainee docs protesting the assault on their colleagues as a “record note” of the interplay. The memo didn’t state to whom it was addressed.
Banerjee had directed officers to take “effective and prompt” motion “within a specified timeframe,” in line with the doc. It didn’t element the preparation interval.
“If those measures had been taken, this incident may never have happened,” mentioned Dr Riya Bera, a postgraduate trainee at R.G. Kar, of her colleague’s dying.
Requested by Reuters in regards to the 2019 assurances, West Bengal Well being Secretary N S Nigam mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted enhancements for 2 years however “a lot” had been executed since 2021, together with strengthening CCTV protection and interesting non-public safety in hospitals.
“We are committed to do the remaining work and fill the gaps that emerged after the R.G. Kar incident,” he mentioned.
Banerjee on Aug. 28 additionally introduced that $12 million could be spent to start work on enhancements reminiscent of higher lighting in well being amenities, resting areas and feminine safety workers.
The chief minister’s workplace, in addition to R.G. Kar hospital, didn’t reply to calls in search of remark.
Authorities proceed to analyze the Aug. 9 incident, for which no fees have but been filed.
‘PATRIARCHAL ATTITUDES AND BIASES’
The assault on the physician in Kolkata, who can’t be named beneath native legal guidelines, recalled reminiscences of the 2012 gang rape of a physiotherapist in a Delhi bus, which convulsed India in anger and triggered protests.
Reuters interviewed 14 feminine docs at authorities hospitals in West Bengal and elsewhere in India about their challenges in a rustic the place girls’s security is a long-standing concern.
They described poor working circumstances, together with aggressive therapy from the households of sufferers and having to sleep on benches in dimly-lit corridors as a result of an absence of relaxation amenities.
Some docs spoke of napping in break rooms with no locks throughout prolonged shifts, solely to have folks barging in. Others described confronting male sufferers who photographed them with out permission, claiming that they have been documenting proof of their therapy.
Indian Medical Affiliation (IMA) President RV Asokan informed Reuters that whereas the Aug. 9 homicide-assault seemed to be distinctive in its brutality, “the fact that anybody can walk in shows the vulnerability of the place, and this when more and more women are joining the profession.”
Some docs have taken self-defense measures: One physician at a hospital in Odisha state, which neighbours West Bengal, mentioned her father gave her a knife to thrust back potential attackers.
And Dr Gauri Seth, a publish graduate trainee at Medical Faculty, Kolkata, informed Reuters that after the Aug 9. incident, she wouldn’t go on responsibility once more with out carrying a pepper spray or scalpel to defend herself.
About 60% of India’s docs are feminine, and three-quarters of them have described being victims of verbal abuse, bodily assaults and different harassment whereas on responsibility, in line with the IMA, the nation’s largest group of physicians.
“Due to ingrained patriarchal attitudes and biases, relatives of patients are more likely to challenge women medical professionals…(they) also face different forms of sexual violence at the workplace,” India’s Supreme Courtroom wrote in a Aug. 20 ruling ordering the creation of a taskforce on medical employees’ security.
India launched powerful legal guidelines governing crimes in opposition to girls following the 2012 Delhi gang rape, together with increasing the definition of rape to incorporate all penetration with out consent, in addition to criminalizing voyeurism and stalking.
However the scenario stays bleak, in line with activists and authorities knowledge.
Nearly 450,000 crimes in opposition to girls have been reported in 2022 – the newest 12 months for which knowledge is offered – up 4% on 2021, authorities knowledge present. Greater than 7% of the alleged crimes have been rape-related.
Lawyer and rights activist Vrinda Grover blamed insufficient coaching for police investigators and broader cultural points.
“What is very disturbing in this case is the ordinariness of what the victim was doing: she was in her workplace,” she mentioned. “There is something wrong with a society where such conduct is so commonplace.”
LIVING HER DREAM
The 31-year Kolkata doctor, whose battered, half-naked physique was discovered by colleagues, had at all times needed to be a health care provider, members of the family and associates informed Reuters.
“When I bumped into her last year, she told me she was very happy and was living her dream,” mentioned Somojit Moulik, who had studied with the sufferer in medical faculty.
When Reuters visited the sufferer’s household dwelling, the nameplate bore solely her title with the prefix Dr, in a sign of how extremely her relations valued her achievements.
Her aunt mentioned in an interview that her niece had been set to marry a doctor she had studied with later this 12 months, and that she had not complained about questions of safety at work.
However within the wake of her dying, colleagues are talking out. Dr Shreya Shaw, a postgraduate trainee at R.G. Kar hospital, mentioned she discovered two strangers shaking her awake at round 3 a.m. when she was sleeping in a delegated toilet, which didn’t have locks.
“It was initially quite scary to wake up to unknown men in the dark,” she mentioned, including that she was shocked the sufferers may enter the ground the place she was resting with out being stopped.
($1 = 83.9000 Indian rupees)
