The rape and murder case of a doctor at Kolkata RG Kar Hospital has not only exposed the chinks in the healthcare system across the country, including Goa but also uncovered the fake sense of comfort that is being given to doctors whom we often call warriors.
Sadly, a grisly case of rape and murder has set administrators and higher echelons into thinking about shortcomings in the system that leave doctors vulnerable. Health Minister Vishwajit Rane stressed the need to provide a medical shield to the medical fraternity while also mentioning the presence of surveillance through CCTV cameras in all government medical institutions.
However, there is more to learn from the Kolkata incident than just surveillance and tweaking laws to make them stringent against offenders. For example, the victim doctor at the RG Kar Hospital was on a 36-hour shift and felt the need to take some rest. She chose to take a quick break in the seminar room. Shifts of 36 hours and beyond are common with PG students across medical colleges and hospitals, including Goa.
Those pursuing specialisation are put through enormous stress through sleep deprivation and the hectic pace of work. Doctors have no proper restrooms and have to accommodate with available resources sometimes choosing insecure areas like the seminar room at RG Kar Hospital. Do we look back to these grey areas only when a dastardly attack happens? And, will the system change from here? Does the dean and heads of departments have no sensitivity to what these doctors are going through?
On Saturday last, doctors at the South Goa District Hospital stressed the need for a mechanism to ensure enhanced security for the safety of healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses. They highlighted the fact that they work in a hostile environment besides working under stressful conditions.
The security aspect needs to be examined from a much wider perspective, beyond just CCTVs. Camera coverage may not be a deterrent in conditions where families turn hostile at the hospital premises while making desperate attempts to prioritise attention to their ward. It has happened in the past. Two resident doctors were abused and attacked on April 18 and April 28, 2021, when the State was in the grip of a Covid attack. One incident was reported at the South Goa District Hospital in Margao and another at the Goa Medical College and Hospital. The Goa Association of Resident Doctors had threatened to withdraw the services of 300-odd doctors in the State if there were more such incidents against doctors or staff.
Intolerance towards doctors is seen in hospitals and medical institutions across the nation. Let alone the petal shower that the State gave to the Covid heroes, very often doctors and nurses are showered with the choicest abuses. And they are left vulnerable to attacks having to rely on colleagues to be their only line of defence. A doctor in Kolkata narrated her experience of how male counterparts on duty used to diffuse hostile situations that erupted very often.
The State government boasts of good healthcare facilities, but in view of the Kolkata nightmare, it needs to review the gamut of issues that are staring at doctors on duty. Rane has played a proactive role in this department bringing in reforms and infrastructural upgrades, but there is also a need to give the health warriors a cushion of safety. For many doctors who go through the grime of endless hours and consider the hospital as their second home, the State must provide them at least the comfort of feeling safe at their place of work.
