At least 70 Padma awardees wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asking him to personally intervene to see justice is done in the brutal rape and murder of a resident doctor in a Kolkata hospital last week.
Doctors and nursing students protest against the rape and killing of the trainee doctor in Kolkata on Sunday. (AP)
“We… write to you with deep concern and profound anguish regarding the horrific events that recently occurred at R G Kar Medical College in Kolkata. As the head of our nation, we implore your immediate and personal intervention to address this alarming situation. Such acts of brutality shake the very foundations of service by medical professionals and highlight the urgent need to address violence, particularly against women, girls, and health care professionals,” said the letter.
Among those who signed the letter are former director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, Randeep Guleria, chairman and managing director of Medanta The Medicity, Naresh Trehan, founder of Mahajan Imaging, Harsh Mahajan, chairman of Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Ashok Seth, former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Balram Bhargava, and director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, SK Sarin.
The doctors have put forth five demands in their letter to the PM. The demands include stricter enforcement of existing laws; harsher and time-bound punishments for perpetrators of sexual violence; enhanced safety measures in hospitals and medical institutions; enactment and implementation of a special law for the protection of healthcare workers; and harshest possible punishment for violence against healthcare workers.
“The entire medical fraternity is united in this, and we also stand in solidarity. It was decided to convey our sentiments and opinion to the highest authority,” said Dr Mahajan, who is one of the signees.
The doctors further said, “We stand in unwavering solidarity with the victim’s family, whose pain and loss are unimaginable. We also extend our full support to the medical community, who are increasingly confronting such violence in the course of their work. The safety and dignity of healthcare professionals must be safeguarded with utmost priority.”
Doctors felt it was clear that stronger measures are desperately needed to prevent such atrocities, and called upon law enforcement agencies, policymakers, and society at large to take immediate and decisive action.
“… As recipients of one of the nation’s prestigious civilian honours, we feel a deep responsibility to speak out and demand timely action and appropriate changes… We earnestly appeal to you through this letter to safeguard the medical profession against physical assaults and defacement of the dignity and respect of all healthcare workers.”
Earlier on Saturday, members of the Indian Medical Association also wrote to the PM requesting him to ensure women workers are safe at their workplaces.
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