IMA On Doctors Safety: '35% of doctors in India feel unsafe during night shifts', in most cases women

One-third of doctors working night shifts in India, mostly women, feel unsafe. This has come to light in a study by IMA. IMA claimed that this is India's largest study on this subject based on 3,885 individual responses. It has been said that some doctors feel the need to keep weapons with them for their safety.

Recently, in the backdrop of the alleged rape and murder of an intern in Kolkata, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) conducted an online survey to evaluate safety concerns during night shifts among doctors. This survey found that 45 percent of the doctors do not have a duty room available during night shifts.

The survey involved respondents from more than 22 states, of which 85 percent were under the age of 35 while 61 percent were interns or postgraduate interns. Doctors in the age group of 20-30 had the lowest sense of safety and this group largely comprises interns and postgraduates.

The survey found that duty rooms were often inadequate due to overcrowding, lack of privacy, and missing locks, forcing doctors to find alternative accommodations, and one-third of available duty rooms did not have attached bathrooms.

The President has also expressed her displeasure

The rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata has sparked anger and resentment across the country. President Draupadi Murmu said that she was 'disappointed and horrified by the incident.' Expressing her displeasure, the President called for a ban on crimes against women and said that 'enough is enough, now is the time for India to wake up to the 'perversion' of crimes against women and combat the mindset that sees women as 'less powerful, less capable, less intelligent.'