The heinous rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor in Kolkata’s government-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, which has outraged West Bengal and the medical fraternity nationwide, is a chilling affirmation of how unsafe women are in India, particularly those in professions that involve them working late in the night such as medicine, media, etc. Ironically, Kolkata is considered one of the safer Indian cities for women. Spontaneous protests and demonstrations all over the state and nationwide over the RG Kar horror are reminiscent of the Nirbhaya movement that saw an entire nation react with outrage and utter disbelief to the brutal rape and murder of a paramedical student on a Delhi bus in December 2012. Doctors across the nation are going on strike to protest the Kolkata incident that has shaken up the medical fraternity. Among the demands of the protesting medicos are better facilities and enhanced security. It is shameful that most government hospitals in India lack basic amenities for the staff on duty such as proper washrooms and resting areas for those on night shift. Security is lax in most such establishments and often undesirable elements enter the hospital premises unchecked as was the case at RG Kar Hospital. The civic volunteer who has been accused of raping and murdering the doctor is believed to have entered the hospital several times in an inebriated condition as per CCTV evidence which showed him emerging from the seminar room where the doctor’s body was found the next day. She had fallen asleep there for lack of any other place to take some rest after a hard day’s work.
Junior doctors are often stretched to the limit, particularly in crowded government hospitals. They bear the brunt of relatives’ anger when a patient’s medical outcome is not what they desire. These doctors face adverse circumstances such as the case of a young lady resident in Kerala who was stabbed to death with surgical scissors by a mentally unstable prisoner undergoing treatment. The striking doctors’ demands in West Bengal which include more security and better facilities are completely justified. The state government’s speedy response by suspending the medical director and ensuring the arrest of the alleged accused is welcome but it is hoped that there is proper follow-up action. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said she is open to a CBI inquiry if the Kolkata Police fails to solve the case by Sunday. It is to the credit of the agitating doctors that they rebuffed Opposition parties’ attempts to turn this into a blame game. What they are seeking is justice for their murdered colleague, not a political tamasha.
