Medicos demand enhanced security Lady doctors air their distressing experiences while on duty at Hyd Gandhi Hospital

Hundreds of lady postgraduates, senior residents and super speciality resident doctors at the Gandhi Hospital joined the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T–JUDA) protest and boycotted OPD and elective OT services on Wednesday in protest against the rape and murder of an on-duty lady doctor at the RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata.
Some shared their distressing experiences while on duty. They demanded increased security, resting rooms with CCTV surveillance and stricter entry controls for outsiders on the hospital premises.
Minister Seethakka took part in the protest and said that the demands must be met.
Dr Hima Bindu, a second-year postgraduate student at the Gandhi Hospital, told with ‘The Pioneer’ that she was followed by two unknown men while walking to her hostel at night after duty.
She described the unsafe conditions, including walking through areas with stray dogs and drunkards and the total lack of security. She recounted an incident when a drunken man locked a lady doctor inside a washroom a week ago.
Dr Haripriya, a Senior Resident, echoed similar concerns, noting the absence of even basic facilities. She said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, an outsider entered a female washroom and stole a doctor’s mobile phone.
Despite these issues, nothing has improved and the hospital still doesn’t have adequate resting rooms, no proper CCTV coverage and no drinking water. Both doctors emphasised the need for better safety and facilities for female staff.
Other lady doctors said that undergraduates must be bold to question the mental and physical abuse which outsiders direct at lady doctors.
A senior doctor said how she had changed from being modest to bold by the end of her internship.
“While pursuing internship at the Gandhi Hospital I was only a hostel-bound hospital girl, but by the end of it I had become bold. The reason is that we hear comments and threats of physical abuse.
When we are on the road walking towards or walking inside the campus, people who pass by pass comments against us. The attendants and outsourced employees must be taught how to behave,” she said.
Most of the protesting doctors including men said that if lady doctors are facing problems in the city’s government hospitals then the conditions in government hospitals in rural areas will be more shocking.