'What About Our Safety?' India's Life-Saver Doctors Are Terrified In Present Times

"I go to a rural area for my duty as an intern doctor. We are just three female doctors who are on night duty in the area. We are always in the Emergency Room, on our feet, without blinking even once. Drunkards enter the hospital and ask us to treat them faking pain. We even treat criminals when Police bring them for medical fitness. But what about our safety? We are scared throughout our duty. The nurses question us why male doctors aren't on duty with us. And then they sleep in a room far away from the ER. Who will hear our cries for help?

This is a personal anecdote of Dr Nitali, an intern at KPC Medical College in Kolkata. She is a woman who once said, "I want to save people's lives and bring smiles to their faces. This can be done only if I become a doctor, the best doctor so that people believe in me." And today she says, "Save the saviours! We save people, who will save us?"

Kolkata doctors under fury and fear

Dr Nitali is my sister and, since the Kolkata incident came to light, I cannot stop but worry about her safety. She has been protesting against the incident and demanding the security and safety of doctors, especially those who are women. Each time I tried to contact her, her shaking voice and cries of protest in the background made me numb.  

Kolkata is under fury and for the right reasons. The rape and murder of the female MD student has sparked an outrage throughout the city and even the country. Everyone is lamenting the brutal rape and murder of the woman and is raising voices against the lack of safety for women. This incident further also sheds light on the plight of doctors in this country. 

What do doctors have to say about the incident?

Dr Ryan, an intern at the same college, recounted a chilling incident and said that he was once on duty with two other doctors when a family of two men and one woman arrived at the hospital for treatment. "When we started their treatment, they started throwing tantrums. We were giving him an injection and he shook his body because of which blood came out. He started shouting saying we were not good enough, we didn't know anything and we were just experimenting. He asked us to call our senior. We did and our seniors too couldn't handle the way the family was behaving. Ultimately, we had to call the security."

Dr Ryan continued, "What if the interns were women? They could have done anything to them. The mentality of the society towards the doctors is really bad. Sometimes, they make us Gods and sometimes consider us thieves who loot people in the name of various tests."

He added how no one is ready to understand what doctors go through. He said, "People talk a lot about politics across the country. No one posts about the misery of the doctors. Even if I post, no one gives a like or reshare. All people are concerned about is the politics around the incident but not the doctors who have put their lives at stake."

Dr Indrashish also commented on the incident and said, "It's an absolutely bone-chilling incident. The student community is shaken and scared. All we can expect is justice to be served. The criminals need to be punished, and the safety services for resident and intern doctors and their basic amenities should be fulfilled."

Dr Bhawana recounted her feelings when she heard the news for the first time. It was scary, she said. The way her body was found and the way it was brutally mutilated shocked her to the conscience. Dr Bhawana is an intern at KPC Medical College in Kolkata. She also gets duties and postings. But since the incident has happened, all Dr Bhawana can think is "How can such things happen in the hospital of our own college? How can a government college face such security issues?" Dr Bhawana is strongly demanding security so that there is no other doctor whose dead body is found. 

On the other hand, Laxmi, an MBBS student in the same college said that the incident was a "bad dream come true". She said, "When the mob attacked, we were scared. I sat with my friends and discussed and we ended up crying." Laxmi also added that the incident is affecting her career as a doctor. She said, "From next year, I will be an intern too. How will I face such issues? If there is no proper security, will my career be secure?" 

Other forms of exploitation of doctors

Once a post about the mass suicide letter was issued by resident doctors of Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal. As per the letter, the resident doctors had given an ultimatum of mass suicide on May 31 if the toxic culture of the medical college didn't end. 

In the letter, the doctors said that they are expected to work for more than 24 hours without sleep, sometimes even for 36 hours. The doctors also alleged that they cannot take any leave, not even if they are poorly sick. The letter said that the mental and physical health of the doctors is affected by the toxic culture.  

As per research, between March 2016 and March 2019, 30 doctors died by suicide out of which 18 were women and 12 were men. Around 80 percent of them were younger than 40 years. 22 doctors were from medical education institutes.

In January, a woman doctor was beaten up with an iron rod in a brawl at a hospital in Maharashtra. In the same month, an orthopaedic doctor in Gurugram was beaten up by the patient and his attendant because the doctor sanitised his hand after examining the patient. In 2023, doctors at a hospital in Delhi were beaten up by a patient and her family because the patient was asked to wait as the doctors were attending to other patients. 

After coming across such incidents and anecdotes of doctors, it would be extremely insensitive to not talk about the exploitation of doctors. Being a doctor is not just about wearing a stethoscope and a white coat. Doctors have an identity. They have worked hard to learn how to save people. But why are they not safe? Doctors are life-savers and hence one of the most important pillars of humanity. But if exploitation is all they get, will anyone ever aim to become a doctor? In fact, does India even deserve doctors?  

Views expressed are the author's own.