Violence against doctors is an important problem in the healthcare industry, which is gaining prevalence by the day because of the increasing number of cases worldwide, as seen by the startling headlines and recent protests. Indian doctors have been holding a national strike since last week in order to protest against the rape and murder of a female colleague in the city of Kolkata in West Bengal.
After she was reported to have gone to a seminar hall at R. G. Kar Medical College to rest during her shift, her half-naked, bloodied body carrying bruises was found. A volunteer at the hospital was arrested in connection with the crime. After criticism for the lack of progress, the case was moved from the local police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in India. Since the woman's passing, more rape cases have made headlines in India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that "monstrous behavior against women should be severely and quickly punished."
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) commented on the killing, describing it as a "crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of safe spaces for women" and calling for the country's support in its “struggle for justice”. However, this wasn’t the only reason that led millions to the streets. Protests against the attack and calls for women's rights increased after a mob vandalized the room where the murder took place by turning over the furniture and assaulting doctors who were trying to interfere. Hospitals and clinics countrywide started to turn away non-emergency patients, indicating that millions were planning on joining the strikes. To ease the concerns of citizens, IMA announced that the emergency and casualty services would continue to run, and at 6:00 AM local time on Sunday, the riots ended. Still, elective procedures were indefinitely stopped in some government hospitals earlier this week, as announced by doctors.
R. V. Asokan, president of the IMA, told the BBC that although doctors have long suffered from and protested against violence, this particular incident was "qualitatively different" since this isn’t only an assault against a doctor, which is as terrible as its own, but a dehumanizing murder and rape case against a female doctor who was merely trying to help her patient get better. He continued his words by stating, “If such a crime can happen in a medical college in a major city, it shows everywhere doctors are unsafe."
Headlines of violence against doctors are unfortunately not uncommon. However, the case in Kolkata is among the most recent and widely reported cases because a female doctor was subjected to both physical and sexual violence, raising broader debates about societal roles, working conditions, and the treatments that women in the workplace are subjected to.
The IMA released a list of demands in response to the crime to assist healthcare professionals in fulfilling their requests. These demands included bolstering the law to better protect medical staff from violence, creating safe spaces for rest, and stepping up security in hospitals. In addition to demanding payment to the woman's family, IMA requested a "meticulous and professional investigation" into the killing and the prosecution of those responsible for the vandalism. It is safe to say that the rape of the female trainee doctor, who was only 31, shocked the country.
The case later became material for political debates between parties, as it sparked a political blame game in West Bengal, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the governing Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) of staging the attack. As a response, MC blamed “political outsiders” for stoking the violence and refused all accusations.
As more information was released about the murder, the protests evolved from criticizing violence against doctors to fighting for women's rights. Thousands of women across West Bengal took to the streets for the Reclaim the Night March on Wednesday night to demand "independence to live in freedom and without fear". Although the protests were mainly nonviolent, there were altercations between the police and a few unidentified men who broke into the crime scene, the RG Kar Hospital, and ransacked its emergency room, leading to 25 people being arrested. Protests have also expanded to other cities, such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumba, and Pune.
As thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Kolkata on Friday, one of them, Sumita Datta, told the AFP news agency, "It feels like hope is being reignited."
It’s no secret that doctors all around the world have started voicing their concerns about the violent treatment they are subjected to by patients, and more doctors are coming forward every day to try to convince their governments to fulfill the requests of healthcare workers. However, if these workers keep being ignored by the government, the only possible outcome is a doctor shortage, which is currently happening in Türkiye. After protests against violence and strikes were done at the Çapa Hospital earlier last year and the government still didn’t take any extra measures to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals, Turkish doctors started to rapidly leave the country for better working conditions and better pay, with no intentions of coming back if their requests were not met. It is easy to guess what will happen in the future, especially considering that this scandal has now turned into a fight for women’s rights and has become an issue for not just doctors but all females around India.