The rape and subsequent brutal murder of a doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata has put the entire country to shame. This scandal has exposed the safety of women doctors and employees in government hospitals. In such a situation, Aaj Tak took stock of some well-known government hospitals of Delhi late on the night of 15th August. You will be surprised to know that a dirty picture of mismanagement was seen in the famous hospitals of the capital like Safdarjung and Ram Manohar Lohia.
Somewhere the washrooms were found in such a dirty condition that it was difficult to go there. At some places the flush is bad and at some places there is lack of water. There is not even a rest room for women doctors. The safety of the trainee doctors, who were often on duty for 24 to 36 hours, seemed to be assured by Ram. Whereas the women doctors expressed the problem of feeling scared in the dark corridors of the hospital.
The first midnight stop of Aaj Tak team was Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Here, a resident doctor on duty told that they lack a separate duty room for women doctors. She said there is no private area for women to rest or relax during long shifts. And the condition of washrooms and toilets is pathetic. Washroom not usable. Flush doesn’t work. Bathrooms are so dirty that you don’t even feel like going.
There is darkness in the corridors of the hospital: Resident doctor
Another female resident doctor of Safdarjung Hospital said that it is scary to go from one department to another at night. There is darkness in the corridors. We doctors have to run through this dark corridor to the blood bank to get blood for the patients. If you go towards SSB building, the entire road is dark. We are surrounded by a crowd of patients. Anyone can come in at any time. The situation is very bad. Anyone can come and do anything with us.
A male resident doctor of Safdarjung Hospital said that if we think practically, there will be a protest of two days. Here too, in two days the HOD will say, “Okay, it is done” and the same thing will happen again. This is the truth. And we will start doing the same work again. My duty was for 24 hours. We are on duty every day. We have a duty room, which has one bed. We have 2-3 senior residents and 2 junior residents. We rest according to the shift. Sometimes we sleep for 1 hour.
Such is the condition of Ram Manohar Lohia
At around 2 o’clock in the night of 15 August, Aaj Tak’s team reached the famous Ram Manohar Lohia i.e. RML Hospital in the heart of the capital. Here, outside the overcrowded emergency ward, patient attendants were found sleeping everywhere, inside and outside. There is a continuous line of ambulances with new patients. There is only one room with 2 beds for rest for all the doctors attending these patients and there is no separate toilet for male and female doctors.
There is no separate washroom for male and female doctors in RML.
When we talked to a resident doctor here, he told that the emergency department is relatively safe. Patients sometimes scream and attack him, but there is a guard to take care of it. The female resident doctor told that I feel comparatively safe in the emergency department. There is a guard there. Sometimes patients come and shout at us or attack us, but apart from that, the emergency department is better. During night shifts we stay inside the hospital. We don’t go out. We rest and eat food in the doctor’s duty room. There is only one DDR with two beds. This is a problem. There is no attached washroom inside. There is only one room for male and female doctors.