‘Monsters of Kolkata Must Get Exemplary Punishment; Medical Staff Must Feel Safe’
Dr Rahul Singh, a Junior Resident in BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, says it is high time a stringent set of laws was framed for doctors’ safety in the country. His views:
What happened in Kolkata RG Kar Medical College is the most heinous crime against a doctor in this country as far as I can remember. The entire medical community has been shaken to the core. The Kolkata incident is not just an isolated crime and atrocities; doctors have been facing assault for many years; only the intensities vary. Thus, we as a member of the medical fraternity, need to take this tragic incident as a wake-up call, must come together and demand stringent measures towards our own security – once and for all.
The work-related stress of medical staff is not hidden from anyone; the whole world saw it during the Covid times. Time and again, the medical community has raised its voice against the ill-treatment meted out to healthcare staff. The media is full of reports about assaults on doctors on duty by relatives of patients, shortage of doctors and nursing staff, inhuman work hours etc. And yet if we do not even feel safe at our own workplace, then something must really be rotten in our system.
Thankfully, after the nation’s conscience was shaken with the Kolkata rape-murder incident, the Supreme Court has taken the first step towards the safety and security of the medical fraternity by ordering to set up a national task force to deal with this issue.
This is a welcome step but it should not remain on papers, as it happens mostly, and should be made a reality at the earliest.
Incidentally, the status report of the CBI clearly indicates that the heinous crime was botched up obviously under the directions of the state government. The SC has also expressed shock on how all efforts were made to save the culprits and their bosses. Now we hope that our Kolkata colleague will get a fair justice. Our next course of action will depend on that.
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It is disheartening to see that the state machinery wakes up only after a gruesome rape takes place and people come out on the streets in protest. This happens for a couple of months and then it is business as usual. No system is put in place to ensure that such horrific incident do not happen again. While the Kolkata culprits must be brought to justice and given exemplary punishment, there is also need to set in place a mechanism where healthcare workers feel safe while performing their duties in future.
The medical fraternity has a list of long pending demands – some of which have been taken care of in the past few days after nationwide protests. Our demands include installation of CCTV cameras on vulnerable locations, biometric locks in common areas of doctors, lighting in parking and secluded places on the hospital campus, regular and strict checking of relatives and attendants of patients, attached washrooms in all duty areas, female security guards, deployment of round the clock security guards in the areas where doctors perform their duty etc.
Mercifully, the administration has now started the process of installing CCTV cameras in our hospital, so we hope that other demands are also met now.
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As told to Rajat Rai
