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.
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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
Rhythma Kaul is the national health editor of the Hindustan Times. She has been reporting on public health, medicine, and medical research, with a particular focus on how government decisions and health system reforms shape people’s lives. Rhythma has over 25 years of journalistic experience. She joined Hindustan Times in 2008, and has since covered everything from pandemics and infectious diseases to cutting‑edge medical research and climate‑related health challenges. Her stories routinely track the work of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, department of pharmaceuticals, and key national health programmes, making complex medical science and policy accessible to a wide audience. One of her prominent news breaks has been the 2012 Baby Falak case: A two-year-old brutally battered baby girl was admitted to AIIMS-Delhi with severe head injuries, multiple fractures, human bite marks, and burns. The police investigation revealed this to be a case of multi-state human-trafficking racket. She was profiled by The Wall Street Journal for breaking this story. Rhythma holds a Master’s degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Prior to Hindustan Times, she worked with the India Today Group. Rhythma can be contacted at rhythma.kaul@hindustantimes.com. Her X handle is @RamblingBrook.Read More
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