17/08/2024
I don’t know what to say about the Kolkotta crime. Is it the fall of society ,doom of our country, failure of the system or failure of mothers to raise their sons.
Being a female who has worked in various hospitals across the country, done unaccountable night shifts, I never felt fear about working in hospital despite being in very vulnerable scenarios.
1999- Holy family hospital: A young and bubbling junior doctor in medicine department. Night shifts were hell. My hostel room was very far from hospital and yes I travelled numerous times to and fro maybe exhausted but fearless.
2000- Medical Officer in remote village of Maharashtra : I didn’t have night shifts here but I did manage a very large epidemic and had to request a unknown villager to drop me at camp site as he was going there on his scooter ( transport was limited and bus was avalible only two time a day and it was urgent for me to reach camp site as number of patients has surged).
It was pitch dark and it was only our scooter which could be seen actors the fields which were vast and empty.I was apprehensive now as I didn’t know the person who was drooping me but he quickly reassured me :
Doctor Saab don’t be afraid . I will drop you saftely and if you want I will give you a ride back also.
That was one time when I realised how vulnerable the situation was but I also realised how much respected I was as the person giving me ride was unknown but he knew I was a female doctor who was going to camp. The respect came naturally, nobody had to teach him to respect me and help me.
2001-2003: GMC Aurangabad, Maharatsra .
OMG the number of night sh*ts I did during my training were uncountable. Every third day was a night shift. Large hospital , oddest possible working hours but always fearless and never did a thought crossed my mind that I can get assaulted during my shift. Imagine coming from hostel at 2:00 AM in night for 2-5 AM ICU shift ( hostel was around 500metrs away from hospital and streets were deserted at night) but my strength was my white coat and stethoscopes, the moment I put it on I was no ordinary girl, I was a doctor who was respected by commoners and nobody dared to even cast bad eye on us forget assaulting.
2003- LNJP hospital in Delhi, very bad conditions of doctor’s duty room where at least ten doctors would sleep in pathetic conditions. It is a huge hospital and we use to navigate the deserted alleys in night time to attend the calls. Never, during this time I felt that I was a female and was always confident that I was respected because I was a female doctor.
2003-2007- GBPH : Again a large super speciality doctor. Interestingly, here we had a common duty room for anesthetic on call and we shared it with our male colleagues. Always felt safe despite it being shared duty room.
2008- Holy family: A small boutique hospital no issues with night shifts.
After this my rank became higher and I stopped might shifts. This incidence has broken the faith of hundreds of budding and practising female doctors who would never feel as fearless and as confident as I felt during all those numerous night shifts . The parents and family will always be worried about their daughters while they will be in hospital during night shifts.
The girls was brutally assaulted and murdered in the safest of places, a hospital.
Should we not be ashamed that she had to go to seminar room to sleep?
Where are the senior doctors who are responsible to provide duty room to doctors.
How come hospital become this unsafe that such a heinous crime could take place there.
What about the special respect for female doctors and white coat?
What about finding those criminals and giving justice to that girl who just not only lost her pride but also her life and was throttled to death, brutally raped,her pelvis smashed and her shrill cries buried in that seminar room.
Lastly, what about the lost faith in the system. Who will send their daughters to work at unsafe place? These are the some of the questions which come in my mind and I want to raise them via social media so that such a shameful act is not repeated and the criminals are caught and put to justice.
