New Delhi: Amid protests, non-emergency services at government hospitals in the Capital remained suspended for a second day as outrage spread over the rape and murder of a 31-year-old resident doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, Safdarjung hospital and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) sat in protest after the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) called for a nationwide shutdown of OPD services Tuesday.
As ThePrint reported earlier, the resident doctor at RG Kar was found half-naked and bleeding from the eyes, mouth and private parts. Police suspect the crime likely took place between 3 and 5 am on 9 August. Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer who frequented the hospital, has been arrested and police are on the lookout for more suspects. On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the case to the CBI.
The lack of security measures that led to the gruesome crime is at the centre of protests by the medical community.
Aakash Fidolia, PG resident (dermatology department) at RML hospital and a member of Resident Doctors Association (RDA), told ThePrint that protesters have three demands: “We want a CBI inquiry, the culprit should be arrested and a central law to protect doctors should be implemented.”
Leading the protest at RML, Fidolia said doctors will not return to work till the time there is a guarantee. “Doctors work non-stop to save the lives of people. If something like this happens to them inside a hospital, then the will to work will end.”
The protests spread to parts of Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar, and Gujarat.
Healthcare services were also disrupted in the Capital, including AIIMS, which saw 20 percent reduction in Out-Patient Department (OPD) registrations.
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‘This is not a doctor’s fight against govt’
For many women doctors across India, the incident brought forward the reality they said they had been ignoring for a long time.
“Such incidents happen within fractions of seconds. She (victim) was working as usual during her night duty. She didn’t know something like this would happen to her,” said Daksha, an oral surgeon who was part of the protest at RML hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Harassment with doctors, she told ThePrint, is common in hospitals, but such cases get attention only in extreme cases.
Hospital wards are desolate during night shifts and young doctors often face harassment by attendants, said Daksha. “We have guards standing outside wards but there is nobody in between these wards… they (attendants) often tease us, sing songs and basically harass us. I think we have normalised it but it is not okay.”
Another resident doctor from the neurology department, Kumari Archana, said since the Kolkata rape-murder came to light, there is fear among women doctors of being alone in their duty rooms.
“A hospital should be the safest place for a doctor. If a doctor is not safe there, then even patients are not. This is not a doctor’s fight against the government, this is a women’s fight,” she told ThePrint.
Archana added that since they learnt of the incident, women doctors around her have been having breakdowns. “Are we constantly supposed to feel scared that someone might come in and rape us?”
Yashi Jarya, another resident doctor from the ENT department of RML, told ThePrint that “it is heinous that she (junior doctor at RG Kar) could not be saved in her own hospital”.
“This is our second home. Nobody should feel unsafe in their homes,” she said, adding that before the incident it never occurred to women doctors that something like this could happen. “We want a CBI investigation, we don’t want any local people involved in the case. We want the truth and nothing should be missed in the process.”
On Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met the family of the victim who was found dead in a seminar room of the state-run health facility on 9 July. Meanwhile, the principal of RG Kar, Sandip Ghosh, resigned, and Sanjay Vasistha, the medical superintendent, was removed.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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Dr. Saumyadeep Sinha Mahapatra and Dr. Golam Azam, interns at RG Kar hospital are believed to be the main suspects in this case.
Dr. Mahapatra’s father is a TMC leader and therefore allegations have been levelled against Kolkata Police of deliberately botching up the probe into the rape/murder.
To make things worse, the Principal of RG Kar college, Dr. Sandeep Ghosh, also has very close ties to Ms. Mamata Banerjee. Hence, his promotion to the position of Principal of CNMC – a mich more renowned medical institution in Kolkata.