While the horrific rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has unfolded the dark history of the institution, it has also unearthed several laspes on the part of the hospital administration.
A 31-year-old trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered in the seminar hall of RG Kar medical college on August 9, which sparked nationwide protests with people demanding capital punishment for the guilty.
Meanwhile, the question of doctors' safety in West Bengal still remains in the dock. Five years back, the Mamata Banerjee-led state governement had promised to provide for a better and safe workplace for female doctors. However, the situation has not changed much.
The West Bengal government had promised public hospitals with better security equipment, female guards to support female physicians, and controlled entry points. Following an assault on two doctors by a patient's family members in 2019, the government had committed implementing robust security measures in hospitals, as per a state health department memo dated June 17, 2019, as per Reuters.
Meanwhile, four of the trainee doctors and the collegues of the victim shared their horrifying experiences which they came across in the same seminar hall (where the incident took place) at RG Kar medical college.
According to a report by Times of India, the junior doctors complained that the situation had not changed a lot on the ground and none of the promises were fulfilled at the hospital, where the incident occurred.
One of the doctors revealed that the seminar hall where the deceased victim was sleeping had no lock and that the air-condition in the room had malfunctioned.
"If those measures had been taken...": Dr Riya Bera on her collegue's death
"If those measures had been taken, this incident may never have happened," Times of India has quoted Dr Riya Bera as saying, a postgraduate trainee at RG Kar medical college.
Another junior doctor, Dr Shreya Shaw, recalled that she had found two strangers waking her up at around 3 a.m. while she was asleep in the seminar hall.
"It was initially quite scary to wake up to unknown men in the dark," she said, as reported by the publication.
What is the government's take on the state government's 2019 assurance?
According to TOI, West Bengal health secretary NS Nigam was asked about the state government's commitment to provide for a safe workplace for women doctors. He said that the Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted improvements for two years but "a lot" had been done since 2021, including strengthening CCTV coverage and engaging private security in hospitals.
