The recent horrifying event at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has exposed the serious flaws in our healthcare institutions ' security and working environment once again. It is appalling that there were insufficient security measures in place at a facility where thousands of patients and healthcare professionals work on a regular basis. Equally distressing is the fact that the victim, like many of her colleagues, had no proper space to rest.
Resident doctors often work for gruelling 36-hour shifts, as was the case here, with minimal to no breaks. The absence of designated, secure resting areas within hospitals speaks volumes about the disregard for the well-being of healthcare workers. These doctors, who are on the front lines of medical care, deserve better than to be forced to rest in unsafe, makeshift spaces.
The IMA has also demanded that hospitals be declared safe zones with the first step being mandatory security entitlements . "The security protocols of all hospitals should be no less than (that of) an airport. Declaring the hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements is the first step.
CCTVs, deployment of security personnel, and the protocols can follow," it said in the statement. It is shocking that in this day and age, hospitals still lack basic security systems such as card scanning or biometric entry controls. Implementing these systems is not a luxury but a necessity.
This is the grim reality that resident doctors face daily. There.