More and more female doctors dwelling in the capital city are feeling vulnerable for no fault of theirs.
More and more female doctors dwelling in the capital city are feeling vulnerable for no fault of theirs. In most medical colleges, here is growing unease over their safety especially in the wake of recent crimes targeted at women doctors.
Recently, at the women’s hostel of ESI Hospital, a pediatrician was raped and brutally assaulted. As with this hostel, many hospitals and teaching institutes in Delhi have no foolproof security systems.In 2002, a resident doctor was raped on her way to the bus stop from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) in Central Delhi. Following this incident, the institute posted a team of 30 guards from the Directorate General for Resettlement in the college premises. Yet, the women doctors still say they feel unsafe.
In addition to such publicized incidents, several cases of molestation, eve teasing and thefts in medical college campuses go unreported.
Last month, a thief was caught in the middle of the night in the girls hostel in Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC). “When union members took him to the local police post, the officials refused to lodge a complaint as nothing was recovered from him. Only after the students agitated the next day, a formal complaint was registered,” says Dr Sunita Sharma (name changed), a resident doctor.
“Our institute doubles as a thoroughfare. The security is lax and no kind of screening is done,” speaks out a second semester student of MAMC.
The students say that since a lot of surgery lectures get over around 10.30-11 at night, they prefer to walk back to hostels in groups. Lady resident doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have similar complaints to offer. “The campus is so vast and the hospital receives over 8,000-9,000 footfalls (of patients) everyday, so security will always remain an issue here,” says Dr Priya Sen (name changed), a senior resident doctor.
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ANN/C
