Kolkata Rape and Murder: Health Services Across the Nation Hit by Doctors’ Strike
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Amid the furore across the country over the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the West Bengal government on Saturday introduced a flagship program ‘Rattirer Shashi- Helpers of Night’ for women medical professionals.
The initiative aims to provide safe working conditions for women on night shifts in government hospitals, medical colleges and hostels.
The safety measures taken under the programme include separate restrooms with toilets for women, identification of safe zones with full CCTV coverage, a special app with an alarm connected to the local police station will be made available to install in the phone, breath analyser will be included in the security check at hospitals.
The healthcare services across the nation, however, was badly hit on Saturday as the doctors responding to the call by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) went on a 24-hour strike from 6 AM by withdrawing all medical services to protest against the brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
Doctors of modern medicine across the country, irrespective of the sector and place of work, withdrew services from 6 a.m. on Saturday and will continue till 6 a.m. on Sunday.
Amid growing protests over the gruesome rape-murder of the trainee doctor, the IMA had called for nation-wide strike during which routine OPD services and elective surgeries were not conducted. However, all emergency services were functional.
The Union Health Ministry has requested the agitating doctors to resume their duties in the public interest and assured them that a committee would be set up to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals. Representatives of all stakeholders including state governments have been invited to share their suggestions with the committee.
With each passing day, doctors’ strike over the alleged rape and killing of one of their colleagues in the Kolkata hospital is gaining momentum as major private hospitals in Delhi joined the protest on Saturday, shutting down their OPDs, elective surgeries and IPD services.
Resident doctors in the capital have been on an indefinite strike since Monday. As the strike entered its sixth day on Saturday, private hospitals also joined the protest alongside government hospitals. Hospitals like Sir Ganga Ram, Fortis and Apollo have halted their OPD, elective surgeries and IPD services.
OPD services at major Delhi hospitals remain suspended as doctors at Guru Teg Bahadur, Ram Manohar Lohia and DDU hospitals along with AIIMS continue their protest.
In Jharkhand, all government and private hospitals took part in the strike, IMA said. They also took out marches while doctors in Assam Medical College held a sit-in protest,
In Chennai, doctors have organised a boycott protest while outpatient departments of both government and private hospitals have been affected across West Bengal. The IMA’s Chandigarh unit suspended OPD services and held a protest march. In Bengaluru, over 1,000 doctors participated in a protest at the IMA office.
The IMA, the largest organisation of doctors in India, has demanded as overhauling of the working and living conditions of the resident doctors including the prevailing system of 36-hours shifts and safe places to rest. It sought a central law to prevent violence against medical professionals at workplaces.
In its statement, the IMA has put forth a list of demands to ensure that security protocols of hospitals “be no less than (that of) an airport.” Hospitals should be declared as safe zones with CCTVs and higher deployment of security personnel, it said.
The nationwide strike comes a day after medical students across Indian cities conducted protest marches and staged dharnas against the alleged inaction over the horrific rape-murder that has sent shockwaves across the country.
Protesting doctors at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the horrific crime took place, have accused the police of mishandling the case and the ruling Trinamool Congress government of trying to destroy evidence to shield the accused.
The case is now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under an order from the Calcutta High Court. “We have identified at least 30 suspects and have started questioning them,” a CBI officer said.
The noose seems to be tightening around Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the RG Kar Hospital, after the CBI detained him for questioning on Friday afternoon. Ghosh resigned from RG Kar on August 12 amidst allegations of a racket being run from the hospital where a 31-year-old doctor was found raped and murdered.
Ghosh was picked up by CBI after the Calcutta High Court advised him to appear before the agency. His questioning at CBI’s CGO Complex office in Salt Lake went on for more than eight hours. His former colleagues — Arunava Dutta Chowdhury, head of the chest department, and Dr Sanjay Vashisth, the former superintendent of RG Kar — were also questioned by the CBI team. The agency, so far, has questioned about 30 people, including doctors, PG students, HoDs, and staff members. On Friday night, security guards, ward boys and nurses were summoned.
Speaking to the media ahead of his questioning on Saturday, Ghosh said: “The news of my arrest is wrong. I don’t know accused Sanjay Roy. No confrontaion has happened.” Sources said the CBI was questioning the hospital management and staff to piece together the sequence of events that led to the brutal killing of the doctor. “We are looking at all aspects of the case,” a CBI officer said when asked if allegations of underhand dealing in RG Kar were also under the scanner.
Family members of the deceased have told CBI that the victim was under pressure at RG Kar. The CBI now wants Ghosh to answer if he was aware of why the victim was feeling pressured and if there was any complaint made to the college authorities regarding the pressure that she was facing.
Security for doctors and patients, use of the seminar hall — where the crime happened — and overall management of the hospital are all queries that the CBI team is seeking answers to. The CBI is waiting for the forensic and DNA reports to conclude if there was more than one person involved in the heinous crime.
As rumours and made-up stories about the crime kept flying thick and fast, the Kolkata Police have issued several clarifications after fact-checking some of the rumours and claims. It said the autopsy of the 31-year-old doctor, which was performed in front of a magistrate, was videographed. It doesn’t mention any fracture. Social media posts, especially an Instagram template, talks about injuries like pelvic girdle fracture. The police have denied this too.
The Calcutta High Court has said the filing of an unnatural death case has raised suspicion and pulled up the hospital administration for not registering a complaint. As a matter of procedure, the police often register an unnatural death case in the absence of a complaint. Unnatural death cases can turn into murder investigations upon receipt of a complaint or post-mortem report.
Unnatural death cases include suicide, murder, accident. The 174 of CrPC and the corresponding section of BNS explains this. This is simply a legal tool or procedure to begin probe in the absence of a complaint, it said.
Kolkata Police chief Vineet Goyal said, “Unnatural death case is a natural process. Murder is an unnatural death. When there is no immediate complaint, you have to do an inquest. An inquest is preceded by an unnatural death case. So, I don’t see why it is being said by registering an unnatural death case, we wanted to hush up the matter and make it look like a suicide case.”
Pointing out the reports that 150 mg of semen was found in deceased doctor’s body thereby suggesting gang rape, the police said the source of this information was the petition filed by her family in the Calcutta High Court. The police chief, however, has denied this. In a press conference, Mr Goyal said, “Someone said 150 gm semen is found. I don’t know from where they have found this kind of Information. And it is circulating in media in all kinds of forms. People are tempted to believe it and they are trying to create confusion among the people.”
Some social media posts have named some of the colleagues of the doctor as suspects. While sources say the parents have shared a list of names of the suspects with the CBI, no agency has named anyone on record, except the arrested civic volunteer, it said.
It was claimed on social media that one of doctor’s junior colleague is the son of a powerful politician whereas he is son of a teacher from Bankura. The police say such fake narratives were propagated to claim some bigwigs are being protected by them. Many have also questioned how the doctor’s name along with an unverified copy of a prescription written by her was leaked on social media, in direct violation of the Supreme Court guidelines on reportage of sexual assault cases.
