STORY: Gauri Seth says she did not used to carry pepper spray and a scalpel while working as a postgraduate trainee doctor at Medical College Kolkata.
That changed after another young female trainee in the city was sexually assaulted and killed last month.
“After this incident, I do not feel safe. I do not have the same confidence in me with which I used to go out at 2 o’clock in the night or 3 o’clock in the night”
The murder set off nationwide outrage and sparked protests across India, protests that Seth has herself joined.
She says she’s gotten more phone calls from concerned relatives and friends worried for her safety.
According to the Indian Medical Association, about 60% of India’s doctors are female, with three-quarters reporting verbal and physical abuse on duty.
The recent assault has drawn parallels to the 2012 Delhi gang rape of a physiotherapist that sparked widespread protests.
Reuters interviewed 14 female doctors at government hospitals in West Bengal who described poor working conditions, including aggressive treatment from patients’ families and inadequate resting facilities.
Others described napping in break rooms with no locks, or dealing with male patients taking photographs of them without permission.
Proma Ghosh, a protesting trainee nurse, blamed a lack of protection for the brutal murder.
“There is a total lapse in security and that is the main reason that person (accused) got so much entry into inner premises.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a $12 million initiative for improvements in health facility safety, including better lighting and female security staff.
Despite tougher laws introduced after the 2012 incident, the number of reported crimes against women rose to nearly half a million in 2022, with over 7% related to rape.
Source Agencies
