For 11 days, several resident doctors' associations working in public hospitals across the country were on strike protesting the unsafe work environment in government hospitals. The protests started in most medical colleges and hospitals across India in solidarity with their counterparts working in RG Kar Hospital and Medical College in Kolkata, where a 31-year-old female resident doctor was brutally raped and murdered on August 9.
While emergency services such as intensive care units and emergency surgeries and admissions were fully
For 11 days, several resident doctors' associations working in public hospitals across the country were on strike protesting the unsafe work environment in government hospitals. The protests started in most medical colleges and hospitals across India in solidarity with their counterparts working in RG Kar Hospital and Medical College in Kolkata, where a 31-year-old female resident doctor was brutally raped and murdered on August 9.
While emergency services such as intensive care units and emergency surgeries and admissions were fully functional, the doctors had halted all elective or non-essential services. As a result, non-essential services such as OPDs (outpatient departments), regular admissions, and elective surgeries were massively hit. The protesting doctors finally decided to withdraw strike on Thursday only after the Supreme Court intervened — forming a 12-member national task force to address the safety concerns of doctors and to look for immediate and long-term solutions. In addition, the apex court appealed to doctors on indefinite strike to resume work fully in the interest of patients.
The Union ministry of health and family welfare released terms of reference for the functioning of the national task force that in detail addressed how the work environment can be made safe for health care professionals, especially those working in the government sector.
It is immensely troubling to go through the guiding document as areas that need work aren’t something for which doctors should be out on the streets in protest.
According to the document’s broad contours, the task force will prepare an action plan categorised under two heads: a) prevention of violence against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions; b) providing an enforceable national protocol for dignified and safe working conditions for interns, residents, senior residents, doctors, nurses, and all medical professionals.
As of now, several doctors do not have access to something as basic as a duty doctor’s restroom to take a nap between long shifts, and even clean toilets, with many saying they need to mentally prepare themselves for quite a bit before using one. “We tend to avoid going to the loo as much as possible,” said a resident doctor from a Delhi hospital.
A safe work environment is their right. In fact, it is not just the right of health care workers but every citizen of this country. No one should feel unsafe in their work environment, and this is something that state governments— health being a state subject — need to seriously ponder over for long-term solutions.
Rhythma Kaul, national editor, health, analyses the impact of the most significant piece of news this week in the health sector
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