A DARK BEGINNING TO A NEW YEAR
“I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. Did he rape my head, too?”
The end of year 2012 and the beginning of year 2013 will forever remain etched in the collective memory of we as a society and nation as images of women and men, young and old, getting together to protest against an act of inhuman cruelty against a ‘daughter of the nation’.
Or was it really just one act that made them stand up and fight? Was it the collective guilt of having not spoken up for the countless other such victims? Was it a collective fear that was driving them – fear that they themselves or someone close to them could be next? Was it the sense of having no hope from the powers that matter which made them take to the streets all over India? Was it a nation finally finding voice to speak as one? Was it the collective shame of not having spoken before? Was it the anger against the countless injustices suffered by any women in an ordinary day of existence? Was it impotent rage? Or was it a combination of all of them. And maybe, much more than that.
She was variously called Damini, Nirbhaya. She could have been any one. She could have been some one we knew. She could have been someone we would have never met all our lives. But she was special. She was special for those she was close to. And she is special for the entire nation that experienced what she went through. We grieve for her.
It is very seldom that the sufferings of one individual come to epitomize the collective sufferings of the entire gender.
Her suffering and trauma should not be allowed to go waste. The collective anger and grief of the society must not be allowed to wither away. It should act as a clarion call for all those who matter to get their act together. This collective energy should not be allowed to dissipate without bringing out fruitful change.
The need of the hour is not to just to bring in new laws, but to ensure effective implementation of the same. The most important is to bring a change in the attitude of the society. The society has to learn to be responsible for the safety and well being of its women.
“But being responsible has nothing to do with being raped. Women don’t get raped because they were drinking or took drugs. Women do not get raped because they weren’t careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them.”
The deep rooted prejudices against females start even before the birth of the child. Clandestine and ill legal determination of sex of the unborn child, followed by selective termination of female fetuses, in active connivance with a miniscule minority of own profession is a dark reality of the Indian society and an ugly blot on the face of our profession. The resultant skewed sex ratio has got far reaching consequences for the society as a whole, and for female security especially, a fact that is more often than not ignored.
The prejudice then prevails throughout the infancy and childhood manifesting as compromise in nutritional level, compromise in medical treatment and compromise in educational opportunities as compared to her male siblings. After marriage, even today, a large number of females have no say in not only how their household is run, but also in how their own life is run.
There are many different forms and ways in which females are persecuted by the society - in the name of killing “witches” in some areas of the country; or as the abandoned and helpless widows in ashrams of vrindavan; in the name of “dowry deaths”; or in the name of honour killings, and many more such practices. Such practices have the explicit or tactic consent of the local society in many cases.
All such instances and practices, coupled with inept and, at many times, conniving police, insensitive bureaucracy, long winded legal process, lethargic and slow responding legislative machinery and an apathetic society – make a dangerous cocktail which portends ill for us a civilized society.
India is a land of paradoxes. We worship female form in numerous ways. And yet, we are depraved enough to heap uncountable miseries on our women folk.
We as Doctors have a lot to do in this regard. We have to take the lead in changing the society. We can play a vital role in eliminating the blot of sex selective termination of pregnancy. We can use our position to ensure better healthcare – preventive, promotive and curative- for the female child. We can help the womenfolk be more in control of their reproductive health and choices. We can identify victims of abuse by our vigil in the course of our daily professional work. We can help prosecution of perpetrators of crimes against women by timely and efficient medico legal work. We can give a helping hand, a patient ear, an understanding care and a healing touch to the victims of abuse.
Let us take the lead.
Dr Ashish Rana
General Secretary
Haryana Civil Medical Services Association.
Promotion order MO to SMO (Dated 21-12-2012)
The HCMS association was taking up the issue of promotion of Medical doctors consistently because of firstly the supervision and administrative load on SMO's/Deputy Civil Surgeons and secondly stagnation in jobs of Govt doctors. And here comes the result, the Governor of Haryana is pleased to promote the 43 Medical Officers to the post of Senior Medical officers/Deputy Civil Surgeons/Deputy Directors.
Supreme Court Judgement regarding NEET PG (Dated 13-12-2012)
A.P.PVT.MEDICAL & DENTAL COLLEGE MGT. ASS Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
DR.N.T.R.UNIV.OF HEALTH SCIENCES & ANR. Respondent(s)
Upon hearing counsel the Hon'ble Supreme Court made the following order:
Place these matters on 15th January, 2013. In the meantime, the Medical Council of India, the Dental Council of India, as well as the States and Universities and other Institutions, will be entitled to conduct their respective examinations for the M.B.B.S, B.D.S. and PostGraduate courses, but shall not declare the results of the same, until further orders of this Court.