NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for healthcare workers after the “horrific” rape and murder of a doctor sparked medical strikes and furious protests.

The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 has stoked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.

Doctors’ associations from government-run hospitals in many cities across India have launched strikes that cut non-essential services, with protests in their second week.

Protesters marched through Kolkata on Tuesday, holding up signs demanding “justice”, while the country’s top court issued orders in the capital New Delhi. “The brutality of the sexual assault and the nature of the crime have shocked the conscience of the nation,” the three-judge bench said in its order, calling the details “horrific”.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud read out the order, which called for the formation of a “national task force” of top doctors to prepare a plan to prevent violence in healthcare facilities and draw up an “enforceable national protocol” for safe working conditions.

The court said it had been forced to step in as the issue was of national concern. “With the involvement of systemic issues for healthcare across the nation, this court has had to intervene,” it added.

‘Cannot await a rape’

“The lack of institutional safety norms at medical establishments, against both violence and sexual violence against medical professionals, is a matter of serious concern,” the court order read.

“With few or no protective systems to ensure their safety, medical professionals have become vulnerable to violence,” it added, highlighting a lack of CCTV cameras and a failure to screen visitors to hospitals for weapons.

“Lack of security personnel in medical care units is more of a norm than an exception,” it said. “As more and more women join the workforce in cutting-edge areas of knowledge and science, the nation has a vital stake in ensuring safe and dignified conditions of work,” the court said.

Agony mounts for patients in the country after doctors’ strike against ‘horrific’ rape and murder of their colleague

“The nation cannot await a rape or murder for real changes on the ground,” it added. Doctors have also demanded the implementation of the Central Protection Act, a bill to protect healthcare workers from violence. One man, who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, has been detained.

Patients suffer during strike

Patients waiting for treatment at nearby hospitals line the ground as queues grow with Indian doctors protesting the rape and murder of a colleague.

Oresa Khatoon dreads her son might die without treatment, with doctors from government-run hospitals entering a second week of strikes withholding non-essential services — and demanding justice for their comrade and better security for themselves.

Khatoon, 65, has been anxiously waiting for the past ten days for an appointment at a top state-run hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024