‘Incidents every day’: India’s doctors rue lack of safety, rest areas after rape-murder case

“Many times I am unable to take their call because I am attending to patients. My mother gets really upset and has often asked me to quit the job,” she said, adding that security for trainee doctors had barely improved despite outrage among the medical fraternity.

Anger over the Kolkata doctor’s death led to a week-long national strike by the Indian Medical Association, which officially concluded on Sunday, as well as widespread protests.

Some doctors have remained away from duty, but it is hard to stay away from work for long, especially for those working in private hospitals, medical professionals say.

Resigning from her position before the end of a mandatory three-year-traineeship programme would require Ghosh to pay a sum of 3 million rupees (US$35,800) to compensate for her state-subsidised medical college education, which her family can ill afford.

But her mother is now willing to pay the sum because the 24- to 36-hour work days that she regularly puts in are likely no different from the workload of the trainee doctor whose body was discovered in the seminar room of Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College.

India’s medical fraternity and civil society groups are up in arms demanding justice over the horrific case. Many doctors say they are feeling increasingly jittery about the poor safety conditions at hospitals, where they are often attacked despite trying to save lives.

A three-judge bench of India’s Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the case on its own and scheduled a hearing for August 20.

Many of the trainee doctors in state-run hospitals, however, say that official concerns about security are superficial and only raised after a grave incident occurs, after which things fall back into their old routine with little