Drive launched to help female doctors

MUMBAI: The central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) team has announced a drive against harassment of women to encourage female doctors to come forward with their complaints.

The initiative was launched in the wake of a study published in Reproductive Health Matters, stating that 77 out of 135 women health workers, including doctors, nurses, and health care attendants in two government and two private hospitals, had experienced sexual harassment.

MARD representatives expressed the view that the problems of women resident doctors were serious as they feared that their academic record would be adversely impacted if they complained.

Dr Mansvi Patil, a resident doctor from Sion Hospital, told The Asian Age, “I recall the time I was on night duty when a drunkard came up to me and started using filthy language. Thank god, my male colleague intervened in the matter.”

“What if he had touched me inappropriately during medical examination? What would I have done? There are cases where patients just want to feel the touch of women doctors because of which they act weird,” she added.

Dr Sarang Donarkar, president, MARD, said, “After the study was published, we were discussing with our groups when we came to know the kind of experiences women resident doctors faced. That’s the reason we want to encourage them to register such indecent acts.”

“We cannot forget the incident which took place at J.J. Hospital a few months ago. These patients can go to any extent, especially with women doctors, who need to be extra cautious. That’s the reason we have taken the initiative,” he added.