Telangana doctors join nationwide stir, boycott duties

HYDERABAD: The doctors’ protest in Telangana intensified on Wednesday as hundreds of junior and senior resident doctors across government hospitals joined the nationwide call to boycott duties (except emergency services), following the brutal rape and murder of a PG trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata.

Right from 8am, doctors at prominent tertiary care centres in Hyderabad including Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital and Niloufer Hospital sat down for a peaceful demonstration. At the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bibinagar, doctors wore black badges and displayed placards seeking justice for the murdered medico and better security for those working across govt facilities in India.


“We want authorities to ensure safety measures at all medical colleges, especially for female doctors, in addition to compensation and justice for the family of the RG Kar victim. We also demand implementation of the Central Protection Act (CPA),” said Dr J Issac Newton, general secretary, Telangana Junior Doctors’ Association. He added: “There should be designated rooms for male and female doctors on duty, CCTV cameras with adequate coverage, and security personnel at all places of service.”

President of the junior doctors’ association at Gandhi Hospital, Dr M Vamshi Krishna reiterated how security measures in govt hospitals are inadequate, with only a handful of guards and sporadic police patrols at night. “We have written to the govt to deploy SPF personnel to ensure effective security presence within the hospital premises. Additionally, the hospital should invest in hiring more well-trained security personnel as it handles 1,000 OPs and over 1,000 IPs on a daily basis,” he said.

Protesting female junior doctors also recounted their own close encounters with criminal elements. They shared how violent and inappropriate behaviour towards women are common across tertiary care centres in the city -- male patients behaving inappropriately during procedures, patients’ families brandishing knives and blades to threaten them. Worse, the onus of safety is on the women every time they flag an issue.

“When we try to raise the issue with superiors, they question us as to why we were there at the time of the incident, why we were alone, why we didn’t ask a male colleague to go instead, why we dress or speak a certain way,” said a junior doctor at OMC.

Another junior doctor from the gynaecology department at Gandhi Hospital recalled a recent incident when a patient’s intoxicated attender locked himself inside the doctor’s room and slept. “This happened around 6pm…Fortunately, neither the doctor nor any of the nurses were present in the room or washroom. Had they been inside, the situation could have taken a terrifying turn,” the doctor said.


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