Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Maharashtra Association of Gazetted Medical Officers (MAGMO) and other organisations have demanded an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Satara doctor suicide case.
While a candle-lit protest march was held at Beed on Monday, representatives of medical associations in various districts also submitted a memorandum of demands to respective Collectors, apart from taking to social media platform X to voice their concerns and demand the setting up of an independent medical grievance redressal authority.
Dr Santosh Kadam, president, IMA, Maharashtra told The Indian Express that they had demanded that the probe in this case should be conducted by an SIT team and not Satara police. Dr Kadam and several others participated in the candle-lit protest march in Beed.
In Pune, Dr Manoj Khomane, working president of MAGMO , Maharashtra and President city unit and others submitted a memorandum of demands to the District Collector and even warned of intensifying the agitation if their demands were not met with Dr Khomane and others in their memorandum have claimed that the doctor had informed her seniors of being mentally and physically harassed by PSI Gopal Badane and Prashant Bankar. `
“She had also allegedly complained to the police in Satara that she was under pressure to give false medical reports,” Dr Khomane said, further claiming that due cognizance was not made of this. “There were warnings that she was under extreme distress and in her suicide note, she has named the individuals responsible for this harassment,”Dr Khomane added.
The doctor was found dead last week and a note on her palm – written in Marathi alleged Badane of raping her and her landlord’s’s son Bankar of harassment. Both have been arrested since then.
However the IMA, Central unit of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors and other associations have now taken to social media platforms to claim that “This woman doctor’s voice was ignored, her complaints dismissed, and safety compromised”. They demanded strict action against those who ignored repeated complaints while also making an earnest appeal for the enforcement of POSH Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 across government health institutions to safeguard women doctors.
Medical associations have also called for fast tracking the case as part of the Health Protection Act. Dr Kadam reiterated that this death was not an isolated case but a reflection of the rising psychological, administrative and moral strain faced by doctors across the state. He also called for the implementation of structured mental health screening, stress management programmes and periodic counselling for all doctors especially those serving in isolated or high pressure postings.
Dr Kadam pointed out that doctors across the state serve with dedication and compassion often in resource limited environments at great personal cost. “They deserve institutional empathy, mental health security and procedural fairness,” he added.
