Why the spirit of RG Kar protests must be kept alive
Justice for the slain doctor and the remaining nine demands of the junior doctors must be delivered. The civil society must not waver in its support
Will tomorrow be what we would like it to be after the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) rape-murder? After all, it took this gruesome crime to remind us of our duty to protest against what we should not see happening in society.
The health care system in West Bengal (and possibly in many other states) is steeped in corruption. Immoral and unethical practices of a few bring in money from various sources, a portion of which is shared with members of the party in power. This partaking of dirty money paves the path to tolerance of corrupt practices. And then it snowballs, as more and more corrupt practices and practitioners enter the system. Extortion from medical students to avoid being marked as “failed” in examinations (actual performance notwithstanding), “cut money” from purchases, commission to allow a supply of fake drugs to hospitals, sexual harassment and exploitation of women, bribes for allocating hospital beds to patients, and many such heinous acts are overlooked for a share of the loot. When questioned, the powers that be feign ignorance.
The need now is to stand up and protest against all this if another RGKMCH-type incident is to be avoided. With this crime, we realised that corruption is not confined to only a single medical institution, but infects the entire health system now.
The junior doctors, who suffered the worst of it, initiated the protests — grieving for a young murdered peer. Appalled by the crime and the skeletons that kept tumbling out of the cupboards after the initiation of a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the civil society joined. The doctors went on an indefinite fast, listing 10 demands that could fix the corrupt health system to some extent. Thousands of people marched in tens of marches across the country supporting the demands of the junior doctors. The party in power, through a spokesperson, raised counter-claims and demanded an end to the uprising, without success.
A 13-point charter of demands was thrust forward as a counter to the protests. The charter, of course, merits serious consideration. But, the ruling party must also realise that many of these demands can be met by implementing discipline for government employees, including doctors; the responsibility of implementation rests with the government. In government hospitals, the doctors must deal with an enormous quantum of pressure, which often stems from unfilled positions. Indeed, the junior doctors have demanded the filling of these positions. No doctor in a government hospital should direct a patient to a private hospital, stated the party spokesperson.
Unfortunately, in many government hospitals, instruments necessary for diagnosis of various diseases are unavailable or are often non-functional. Directing a patient to go to another hospital where such instruments are available and functional is surely appropriate even if the said hospital is a private one. To avoid pushing patients to private health care, it is the government that must adequately equip public hospitals. The spokesperson said that the doctors should not direct a patient to specific diagnostic centres. Fair enough. If a doctor in a government hospital indulges in the abominable practice of referrals to obtain kickbacks, the government should punish the doctor. But, not all diagnostic centres provide services of uniform quality. The government has to ensure that the quality of service provided is uniform, without which a doctor has no choice but to refer a patient to a diagnostic centre that provides reliable results.
The junior doctors ended their protest because of requests from the parents of the young doctor who was raped and killed. Hours before they ended their protest, their representatives were called by the West Bengal chief minister (CM) to discuss their demands. The meeting was streamed live. Some demands were related to issues that were sub judice and hence not discussed. Many of the demands pertaining to the improvement of the safety and security of doctors resulted in some, albeit little, convergence between the government and the doctors. Discussions on the demands to improve the ease and transparency of access of citizens to the health care system did not result in any concrete decisions. Overall, the CM did not seriously commit to meet the justified demands of the doctors. Much time was spent discussing the legal standing of many committees and their decisions, even though the constitution and decisions of these committees followed the norms of the National Medical Commission.
Justice for the slain doctor and the remaining nine demands of the junior doctors must be delivered. The civil society must not waver in its support. On October 6, protesters sang No nos moverán (We shall not be moved) by Joan Baez. We should continue to sing Unidos en la lucha, no nos moverán (United in the fight, we shall not be moved). Only then we can see what we wish to see tomorrow.
Partha P Majumder is National Science Chair (Scientific Excellence), Science and Engineering Board, Government of India, and distinguished professor, John C Martin Centre for Liver Research and Innovations. The views expressed are personal
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