Even when physical assaults do not occur, female doctors feel assaulted when men lurking in remote parts of the campus flash their genitalia at them.
Published Aug 17, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 17, 2024 | 11:50 AM
Father of Dr. Vandana Das feels the sting of his loss once more, stirred by memories of his daughter and the ongoing fight for justice.
After the second-year postgraduate trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata was found brutally raped and murdered last week, the father of Dr Vandana Das, killed while on duty at the Government Taluk Hospital, Kottarakkara, Kerala, relived the anguish he felt when he first heard the news of his daughter’s murder on 10 May 2023.
Dr Vandana Das’s father KG Mohandas too, like the father of the trainee doctor in Kolkata, has rejected offers of monetary compensation and stood firm in his fight for justice.
Speaking to South First, Vandana’s father recounted the lingering sorrow after the murder of his only child by a man accused of being under the influence of alcohol. The parents of the 22-year-old doctor who was working as an intern at the time of her murder are now building the Dr Vandana Memorial Clinic at Thrikkunnappuzha in Alappuzha, hometown of Dr Vandana’s mother, Vasantha Kumari.
The clinic would be dedicated to serving the poor, and will stand in memory of Dr Vandana Das. It is set to be inaugurated in a few weeks by Suresh Gopi, the MP representing Thrissur.
On Friday, Mohandas expressed his admiration for the people of Kolkata, who rallied to the support of the bereaved family of the slain doctor and protested for justice.
“I am proud of the people of Kolkata and the TMC government because they stood for their daughter who was killed. Here in Kerala, the government was against us.” His daughter was stabbed by a man named Sandeep, a 42-year-old schoolteacher from Pooyappally in Kollam district.
“My daughter received no medical aid for four hours after the attack,” he said, going over all the things that could have helped saved the life of his precious one.
“The Supreme Court denied our petition, and now the case is ongoing in the Kerala High Court.” Mohandas noted that the attack occurred in front of police and security staff, and yet no one intervened to save the young doctor. State health minister Veena George commented that doctors should practice martial arts. “So, who do we turn to, for justice? Sometimes, one feels it would be best to have laws like they have in Saudi Arabia,” Mohandas said.
He was referring to the system based on the Sharia that provides for death penalty for even non-lethal crimes, and still conducts beheadings, despite how these fall foul of international human rights law.
Mohandas missed the outpouring of solidarity that the people of Kolkata are showing to the kin of the trainee doctor killed. He said he felt rather alone, and mentioned that the accused in the murder of his daughter appealed to the Supreme Court to be released from the case proceedings.
The trial at the Kerala High Court is set to begin on 9 September, with 50 out of a total of 146 witnesses to testify initially. “I don’t have much hope of justice,” the tired and grieving father said, recalling the dedication his daughter felt towards her work.
“She was on her third consecutive shift when the attack occurred at 4 am. And we were only informed three hours later. What caused the delay?” He said that his request for a CBI inquiry was turned down, and noted that the CBI had begun the probe into the Kolkata case.
“Here, no politician, except for Suresh Gopi, who has since been elected an MP, supported us.”
Dr Dhruvan Sivakumar, former president of the House Surgeons Association at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, shared concerns with South First about the security of doctors in Kerala’s medical colleges.
“Medical colleges in Kottayam, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, and other cities offer unrestricted access to members of the public, and this could pose problems, especially for women students,” he said.
Dr Sivakumar said facilities for house surgeons are grossly insufficient, and resting spaces and residential facilities are inadequate. “When I was a house surgeon, most of us rented houses or stayed in private hostels as there was not enough room in medical college hostels. In Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, there is insufficient lighting, and female doctors often go to hostels with only mobile phone torchlights. Kottayam Medical College students recently protested, seeking better security.”
He noted that even when physical assaults do not occur, female doctors feel assaulted when men lurking in remote parts of the campus flash their genitalia at them. “Exhibitionism is an issue that used to be brought up; it remains a concern in the Kottayam Medical College.”
Dr Sivakumar said security personnel tend to be concentrated in some parts of the hospital, leaving other areas less policed. “Security was assured in casualty areas, but these are not the only places where doctor-patient interactions happen,” he said, adding that student and professional unions have taken up these concerns, with limited success.
“Unions do their best, but we work 36 to 72-hour shifts and still have to raise our voices and protest.”
A female house surgeon at Kottayam Medical College said, on condition of anonymity, that when her night shift ends past midnight, she finds the walk back to her room somewhat scary: “I have dealt with exhibitionism, and when one is tired and seeking rest, one is also too timid to react,” she said, adding that exhibitionism is an attack of sorts, even when not a physical one.
A policeman at Gandhi Nagar Police Station, Kottayam, under whose jurisdiction the Medical College falls, told South First, “Arrests were made a few months ago, and the exhibitionists are usually the mentally ill or alcoholics. We present them before the magistrate, who then sends them for psychological counseling.”
Dr Amal Titty, a physiotherapist and owner of Healing Hands Physiotherapy Clinic & Homecare in Kottayam, told South First that healthcare professionals are sometimes targeted for abuse. Physiotherapy requires personal care, including home visits, and female physiotherapists might find themselves in awkward situations that could be dangerous.
Patients have been known to request “happy ending” massages, demonstrating the troubling lack of respect for healthcare professionals. This has caused several professionals in the healthcare space to leave their job.
Dr Titty said that even though Kerala has better infrastructure compared to other regions, there is an urgent need for authorities to educate the public on proper behaviour towards healthcare professionals. Nurses and other healthcare workers face unimaginable challenges, and protests alone will not make it safer for them, he said, without deep cultural change.
Dr B Ekbal, a prominent public health activist, said there was urgent need to implement the Justice Verma Committee report, submitted in the wake of the December 2012 gruesome rape and murder in Delhi, which asserted that rape and sexual assault were not mere crimes of passion but assertions of power.
“Facilities in our government hospitals are better now, so obviously the traffic to government hospitals will increase,” Dr Ekbal said, recalling the survey he conducted in 1986 that showed that 28 percent of the public uses government hospital facilities.
“Right now, it has increased to 60-70 percent and there is corresponding betterment of security systems and other facilities in hospitals not only for health personnel but also for patients and their relatives,” he added.
Dr Ekbal said that in Kerala, the transfer of authority from district hospitals to local bodies had led to “betterment.” He said security remained a concern, as government medical college campuses have areas that are not frequented and covered in vegetation. In healthcare, he said, there is a high percentage of women in the workforce and there is need for increased security measures to ensure their safety.
(Edited by Rosamma Thomas).
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