Articles
Wayanad: Decentralisation in Disaster Management
September 24, 2024
Real-Time Data: A Far-Fetched Vision for the Indian Transport Sector?
September 26, 2024Women’s Safety in Hospitals – Are the Recent Government Advisories Truly Progressive?
In response to the tragic killing of a female doctor at R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata, both the West Bengal government and the Supreme Court have introduced a series of measures aimed at enhancing the safety of women working in medical facilities.
Meanwhile, the Kerala government has convened a high-level meeting to address the issue and improve security for women in hospitals across the state. The death of the doctor in Kolkata has sparked widespread outrage on social media, with numerous posts condemning the perpetrators and criticising institutional shortcomings. As with previous incidents, the reaction has focused on reinforcing existing frameworks that, while well-documented, have yet to deliver effective results.
The Supreme Court has established a National Task Force as part of its action plan to enhance safety measures in hospitals. This initiative includes a mandate for the government to bolster both safety infrastructure and personnel, with a key directive being the implementation of quarterly audits to assess the effectiveness of existing safety mechanisms.
However, a critical issue remains: determining who will carry out these audits of hospitals spread across the length and breadth of the country; some of them are very much in the urban centres, whereas others are in the rural and remote areas.
In a recent directive from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the heads of Central Government Hospitals and Institutes, including AIIMS and other National Institutes of Importance (INIs), detailed instructions have been issued to enhance safety protocols.
The guidelines call for improvements such as installing CCTV cameras, deploying well-trained security personnel, identifying and mitigating poorly lit areas, and minimizing the presence of bystanders. Additionally, the directive emphasises the need for regular reviews of security policies based on incident analyses to ensure continuous improvement in safety standards.
The most regressive of all advisories and guidelines came from the state government. The advisory paints a paternalistic attitude and reiterates the patriarchal norms by advising the hospital management to avoid scheduling night shifts for women. This measure comes against the backdrop of West Bengal’s female worker population ratio, which stands at 26.3 per cent according to the PLFS 2022-23.
The state’s performance in gender equality, as reflected in the NITI Aayog’s SDG Index for 2023-24, is notably poor, with West Bengal being classified as an “aspirant” in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5. These incidents further exacerbate the issue, affecting the female labour force participation rates that are already low.
This paternalistic approach to policy—restricting women’s work hours rather than addressing systemic safety issues—raises questions about its effectiveness in promoting economic and social development. Shielding women by confining them to their homes does not address the underlying issues of workplace safety. Instead, the state should focus on optimising existing resources to improve law and order, rather than imposing restrictions.
The country’s doctor-to-population ratio has reportedly met the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, with the ratio in India standing at 1:834 compared to the WHO’s benchmark of 1:1000. This calculation includes AYUSH doctors. However, despite these figures, the actual number of nurses and midwives needed, along with the number of practising doctors, remains minimal (Karan et al, 2021).
Excluding women, who represent a significant portion of the healthcare workforce, from night shifts in hospitals could exacerbate the country’s health crisis. Addressing such serious issues requires more than short-term solutions; it demands well-considered, forward-looking policies that empower and include women, rather than excluding them from the workforce to keep them safe.
The West Bengal guidelines, like others, also intend to strengthen the existing mechanisms in place like “Ratirer Sathi” and security personnel, and talk about creating separate restrooms and a separate app for doctors to call police control rooms in case of emergency.
Separate restrooms, changing rooms, female security personnel, emergency helplines, alert systems, and CCTV surveillance are considered essential components of workplace safety, especially in environments where women are employed. The root of the problem lies not in the absence of laws or policies but in the lack of rigorous accountability and enforcement mechanisms. This failure undermines efforts to ensure a safe working environment.
Additionally, merely increasing penalties for offenders is insufficient, as evidenced by the rising number of reported cases each year. The deterrence theory behind harsher punishments has proven ineffective, highlighting a need for more comprehensive and practical approaches to safety and justice.
The tragic incident in Kolkata starkly highlights the failure of governmental institutions due to inadequate accountability mechanisms. To remedy this, an independent institutional framework is essential for enforcing accountability and maintaining safety standards.
One proposed solution is the establishment of a third-party social audit, carried out by a diverse committee. This committee would include doctors, nurses, local self-government members, the station house officer (SHO) from the relevant police station, women police officers, representatives from the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Committee, and NGO members.
Utilising established metrics, the committee would assess and recommend improvements to safety systems every quarter. The committee can use a unified online dashboard to represent the standards that can be accessed by the relevant authorities. Effective feedback and monitoring systems, including social audits with fair representation of women, to measure the effectiveness of the safety mechanisms are crucial for ensuring accountability and improving safety standards.
Any policy will have non-linear consequences that have to be well thought out before issuing guidelines in response to an incident.
References:
- PLFS Annual Report 2022-23
- NITI Aayog – SDG Index
- News Reports
Anu Maria Francis is a Senior Research Associate at Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR)
Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the Centre for Public Policy Research.
Anu Maria Francis is an Associate, Research at Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR). She completed her graduation in Law from National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi. She has worked as UPSC exam trainer and mentor with many coaching institutions in Kerala. She has also interned with a couple of organisations like Kerala State Information Commission, ACTIONAID India, Ceat Tyres Ltd, Biocon Pharma Ltd, Khaitan and Co Law Firm etc. Her academic interests pertain to legal and governance issues and education. She also has experience in handling business ventures.
