Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (Peoples Health Movement – India) Health for All – Now!Health is a Basic Human Right! Ensure thorough investigation and timely justice! Ensure workplace safety of women health personnel! Ensure implementation of POSH Act in all health institutions! Statement by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) 16th August, 2024 The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), a national coalition of multiple networks, health rights organisations, mass movements, and civil society groups, strongly condemns the murder and sexual assault of a second-year postgraduate resident at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, in the strongest possible terms. We express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. We join the protesting citizens/people in demanding an impartial investigation and timely justice in the matter of sexual assault and murder, and the alleged linkages of the case with large-scale corruption within the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. We also condemn the attempt to vandalise the site of crime by goons and attempts by the administration to destroy evidence, while investigation is ongoing! We also express our full solidarity with the struggle of all healthcare personnel across the country for speedy justice for victims and to ensure safety at the workplace. The issue of sexual harassment at the workplace is so pervasive, and safety in hospitals, medical colleges is of utmost importance. We like to point out that the current incident cannot be seen in isolation. Continuous sexual violence and harassment of patients as well as the health personnel within the premises of hospitals, wards, OPDs health personnel often go unnoticed. The vulnerability extends beyond patients to all healthcare workers mainly women including doctors, particularly junior doctors, interns, nurses, paramedical staff, lab technicians, administrative staffand frontline health workers like ASHAs, Anganwadi Workers. All of them are susceptible to sexual violence at the workplace often perpetrated by other doctors, colleagues, other employees and outsiders. This exposes the systemic violence and power hierarchies within the health system. Sexual violence and harassment, as a tool to maintain power arise from a sense of entitlement felt by powerful men/people. Only a minuscule fraction of these incidents, whenever the form of violation is very extreme, come to the public domain and draw some media and public attention. Workplace harassment may take many forms and transcends gender, caste, age and class barriers. This is intricately connected to larger issues of discrimination faced by women and marginalised communities within healthcare delivery institutions which lack able governance structures and administrators and in many cases, and is often mired in systematic and organised corruption. Recognising the pervasiveness of sexual violence, the National Medical Commission (NMC), under the Directives of the Supreme Court issued directives in 2023, to all healthcare institutions mandating the formation of committees within each institution, to investigate allegations of sexual harassment lodged against any employee. Furthermore, the directives ensure compliance with the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. We demand that the POSH Act be implemented to address sexual harassment at all workplaces, including hospitals, healthcare settings and medical colleges and institutions. This horrific incident also brings to light the pathetic state of workplace amenities and services available to healthcare personnel in public hospitals. Health workers, while delivering healthcare within constrained systems have often been at the receiving end of the anger and frustration from patients and families. While it is crucial to ensure the safety and security of health workers, in parallel there has to be a significant boost in public investment to strengthen infrastructure and amenities in public hospitals, and to fill vacancies to ensure adequate and appropriate quality of care, as well as elimination of work overload for healthcare staff. We demand that governance and administrative mechanisms of hospitals be strengthened, with all the existing statutory grievance redressal mechanisms to ensure workplace safety, redressal of sexual harassment and other forms of exploitation being put in place in all healthcare facilities across the country. The state and the health system need to take proactive measures to create humane and enabling environments for a profession that is supposed to be caring! Governance structures and administrators of healthcare institutions both private and public must be tasked with ensuring corruption-free transparent systems. In the overall governance of healthcare institutions, particularly the tertiary ones, mechanisms of people led governance and grievance redressal need to be established, with much greater participation of diverse sections of citizens in the processes. The action taken reports concerning grievances of people including healthcare workers should be made public to ensure greater transparency. JSA recognises the current outrage has significant potential to bring in sustained social change and a people centric health system. We appeal to all JSA network organisations, and state chapters to join the protesting health workers and citizens, to bring about systemic changes within the health system- both public and private and a strong commitment to gender justice, and justice for the victims and survivors!! On behalf of JSA National Coordination committee Indranil (9868701429), Dr. Abhay Shukla, Richa Chinthan, Sarojini and Ameerkhan (9443282718)
