After working for 24 hours straight, Dr Sarika Patkar* crashed in the men’s ward at one of Mumbai’s premier government medical colleges. The 24-year-old intern, fresh MBBS graduate felt quite safe, but her parents in Jaipur were quite fidgety. They kept checking Patkar WhatsApp status all night long. And as soon as dawn broke, Patkar mother called to check on her.
“She never does that, but my mother has been quite worried for me after reading the news about the 2nd year PG student who was brutally raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College,” Patkar told BOOM.
The medical intern has it tough. Four months in her internship, Patkar is learning the ropes as her seniors taught her. Apart from practicing her medicine, Patkar has also been cautioned on what to wear (can’t wear shorts on campus); how to behave (one must always be polite to seniors and professors; and navigate curfew imposed on the girls’ hostel – 10 pm for undergrads, midnight for interns and post-grads.
Do the boys have curfew? No, came the short answer. “We have a midnight curfew. If our shift gets over at 2 am, we either crash in casualty rooms, or in empty wards. We have to wait till six am, when the gates open. Unless, we intimate the guards in advance,” Patkar said.
“Recently, two of my batchmates were also harassed on the college campus. This happened despite many security guards posted in each building and a police station nearby. The premises just feels unsafe at night, she added.
Does the curfew bother you? BOOM asked. “No, not really, I understand it is for our safety, but then why is the curfew only for us?” Patkar replied.
Since August 9, when the second-year PG student was found raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical college, everyone in the medical profession is jittery.
Experts reiterate that not much is being done for the safety of healthcare professionals. Over the years, medical professional associations have been appealing for stricter penalties and protection from those who harm healthcare professionals at the workplace.
Advocate Sneha Kalita said there is a “huge vacuum in the law”. Referring to a 2016 survey conducted by the Indian Medical Association, Kalita said over 75 per cent of doctors reportedly faced at least some form of violence.
On August 14, in the aftermath of the West Bengal incident, the Centre announced its intent to bring in a Central law for the protection of doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers and other healthcare professionals. A version of this draft law has been in the cold storage since 2019 after the Home Ministry rejected it saying there cannot be a central law for the protection of a specific profession.
“What is the point and the need of forming a committee when the Central Draft 2019 is ready? Dr Rajeev Joshi said reacting to the news. “It can be converted into law immediately to show the Centre’s intent and to protect doctors. Subsequently, one can have meetings and the law can be amended if need arises,” he added.
Dr Joshi, Pune-based paediatrician is the founder of the Medico-Legal Society of India that is aimed at strengthening laws for the protection of healthcare practitioners.
Law reactionary, not proactive
Doctors observed that instances of violence against medical practioners have increased over the years. Not much is being done to persecute the perpetrators, they add.
“The current laws in force are not enough,” Dr Rajeev Joshi told BOOM.
However, experts caution that in a majority of the reported instances of violence against healthcare professionals, perpetrators are usually relatives and kin of patients. “Reported instances of sexual violence is low, especially in rural areas, advocate Sneha Kalita added. Such issues come to light only if it happens in metro cities or tier 2 cities, she said.
A Delhi-based senior doctor at a private hospital said medical practitioners are completely exposed and vulnerable with little to no back-up in terms of protection. “Even when the police is called, the relatives get away with the violence by playing the sympathy card. The police are also reluctant to file complaint or prosecute the perpetrators,” the senior gastroenterologist said.
“The junior doctors have it worse. The administration and senior doctors, especially in government hospitals, have literally left them to the wolves,” he added.
According to the Indian Medical Association (IMA), only 23 states and 2 Union territories have laws for the protection of healthcare professionals. However, doctors and medico-legal experts feel the laws are poor and its implementation poorer.
A 2016 country-wide survey conducted by the Indian Medical Association found that over 75 per cent of the doctors reportedly faced at least some form of violence. At least 48.8 per cent of the violence was reported by doctors at Intensive Care Units (ICUs) or patients undergoing surgery. About 68.33 per cent of the violence was reported against medi-care service personnel, and damage in such medi-care service institutions are caused by patients’ relatives.
Advocate Sneha Kalita said the laws as they are, only step after an incident takes place. Its reactionary, not precautionary, she said. the law also fails to put in place a mechanism where institutions are mandated to file FIRs in cases of violence against healthcare professionals at the institution Kalita added.
Dr Joshi echoed Kalita’s sentiments on police reaction. “Law enforcement officials are more reactionary. We need a more proactive approach. We need help before something happens to us,” he said.
Delhi-based senior doctor said private hospitals fare better than government hospitals. “Private hospital benefit from the army of private security that is hired for their protection and who maintain rigourous checks and balances. People’s entry is more regulated and of course, CCTV cameras cover almost every inch of the premises,” he added.
“The government hospitals are just not doing enough,” he said not wishing to be identified.
Sexual violence against health-care professionals
Though IMA’s 2016 data talks about violence against healthcare professionals, not enough is known about sexual violence against female medical practioners. This is concerning because according to Dr JA Jayalal, ex-IMA president, over 60 per cent of the doctors and more than 95 per cent of the nurses are women.
Aruna Shanbaug case, perhaps, is one of the most well-known cases that come to mind. Shanbaug, a nurse at Mumbai’s KEM hospital was brutally raped by a cleaner which left her comatose for 42 years. Her case inspired the call for passive euthanasia.
Dr Jayalal thinks the horrific West Bengal incident could be the Nirbhaya moment for healthcare professionals. However, Dr Suchitra Dalvie disagrees.
“It is even more violating to martyr the victim instead of taking concrete steps to prevent such an incident from happening again,” Dalvie told BOOM. “There’s a normalization of creepy behavior towards women,” she said adding, “It is sad to see that 30 years after I joined this profession, the situation for how women have to deal with sexual assault at the workplace is still the same”.
“In the medical profession the hierarchy is strong, and if one complains against untoward behaviour then retribution is stronger,” she said.
Reported instances are few and far in between. But that doesn’t mean sexual harassment at the workplace is not happening.
In 2021, a junior resident at an Odisha medical college was left helpless when her perpetrator – a senior resident – returned to work without any punitive action even after he was found guilty by the internal compaints committee (ICC).
In July 2023, a resident doctor at Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital objected to a senior’s unwanted advances and filed a complaint. “It began with him inappropriately touching my upper body parts, pulling me towards himself to try and hug me,” a HT report says quoting from her complaint. “I tried to stop him many times, but his advances did not stop,” the report added.
But instead of helping her, the resident was asked to ignore the incident or her career would suffer.
In December 2023, three women staffers working at a government hospital complained about sexual harassment at the workplace.
Dr Suchitra Dalvie said the “system failed” the 31-year-old victim from West Bengal.
Dr Meera Saini*, 28-year-old postgraduate from a NITTE University in Mangalore says as a woman resident, she has found ways to protect herself. Saini said it the small and simple things. “If I get late and stay back at the lab after hours, I avoid being alone. I make sure I find some batchmates, or friends of mine. And I avoid walking alone towards my hostel,” she said.
“Once a friend of mine was groped on campus while she was going home from the psychiatric ward. You see, there are no lights on that one patch – a path really. It is ironic that our entire institute is lit up for Independence Day, but that path is still dark,” she said.
*names changed at request