Over 35% of 3,885 doctors, mostly women, feel unsafe during night shifts: IMA study
New Delhi (PTI): An IMA study has revealed that one-third of its respondent doctors, majority of them being women, felt "unsafe" or "very unsafe" during their night shifts, so much so that some even felt the need to start carrying weapons for self-defence.
A duty room was not available to 45 per cent of respondents during night shifts, found the online survey undertaken by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to evaluate safety concerns during night shifts among doctors in the backdrop of recent alleged rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
With 3,885 individual responses, it is the largest study from India on this topic, the IMA claimed.
The survey findings, compiled by Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, Chairman, Research Cell, Kerala State IMA, and his team, have been accepted for publication in IMA's Kerala Medical Journal October 2024 issue.
The respondents were from over 22 states with 85 per cent of them being under 35 years while 61 per cent were interns or postgraduate trainees.
Women constituted 63 per cent, aligning with the gender ratio in some MBBS courses.
"Several doctors reported feeling unsafe (24.1 per cent) or very unsafe (11.4 per cent), totalling one-third of the respondents. The proportion of those feeling unsafe was higher among women," the survey findings showed.
Doctors of age 20-30 years had the lowest sense of safety and this group largely consists of interns and postgraduates.
A duty room was not available to 45 per cent of respondents during night shifts. Those with access to a duty room had a greater sense of safety.
The survey found that duty rooms were often inadequate due to overcrowding, lack of privacy and missing locks, forcing doctors to find alternative rest areas and one-third of available duty rooms did not have an attached bathroom.
"In more than half the instances (53 per cent), duty room was located far from the ward/casualty area," the findings stated.
"Nearly one-thirds of the available duty rooms did not have an attached bathroom, which means that the doctors needed to step outside during late hours to access these facilities," it said.
Suggestions to enhance safety included increasing the number of trained security personnel, installing CCTV cameras, ensuring proper lighting, implementing the Central Protection Act (CPA), restricting bystander numbers, installing alarm systems and providing basic amenities such as secure duty rooms with locks were given by the doctors.
"The online survey was sent to doctors, both government and private, across India through a Google form. There were 3,885 responses within 24 hours," said Dr Jayadevan.
Doctors across the country, particularly women, report feeling unsafe during night shifts, the study said, highlighting there is substantial scope for improving security personnel and equipment in healthcare settings.
Modifications to infrastructure are essential to ensure safe, clean and accessible duty rooms, bathrooms, food and drinking water.
Adequate staffing, effective triaging and crowd control in patient care areas are also necessary to ensure that doctors can provide the required attention to each patient without feeling threatened by their work environment, it stated.
Several additional factors were highlighted by doctors who participated in the survey.
The lack of sufficient numbers of trained security personnel, inadequate lighting of the corridors, absence of CCTV cameras and unrestricted entry of unauthorised individuals into the patient care areas were among the most frequent remarks, the study said.
Some doctors indicated the need to start carrying weapons for self-defence.
One doctor admitted that she always carried a foldable knife and pepper spray in her handbag because the duty room was located at the far end of a dark and deserted corridor.
Doctors who worked in casualty reported verbal and physical threats from people who were drunk or under the influence of drugs. Another doctor reported that she repeatedly experienced bad touch or inappropriate contact in a crowded emergency room.
The situation is worse in some smaller hospitals where there is limited staff and no security.
Several doctors reported apathy from the administrators when security concerns were raised, a common excuse being that the seniors also had endured similar working conditions.
Violence is predominantly experienced by junior doctors, who, being on the frontline, are particularly vulnerable but have limited involvement in administration or policy-making.
Senior faculty members bear the responsibility of implementing policies to improve patient care delivery as well as enhancing security measures, thereby creating a safer work environment for the junior doctors.
Doctors across the country have called for a Central Protection Law to prohibit violence in all healthcare settings and enforce airport-like security measures, ensuring a safer working environment and better patient care.
Such a law would standardise security arrangements across the sector, ultimately benefiting patients as well as doctors, the study stated.
"The survey findings have significant implications for broad policy changes, some of which have already been addressed by the Government of India in response to the Kolkata incident," the IMA said.
The Supreme Court of India took suo motu cognisance, assuring that "doctors and medical professionals shall stand assured that their concerns are receiving the highest attention from the highest court, with input from a diverse range of experts".
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
