The man who sexually assaulted a lady doctor at the doctors’ quarters of the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital on Monday night (10) has been identified but was at large at the time this newspaper went to print. The victim reported returning to her quarters after completing her duties that evening when the attacker, at knife point, raped her. The incident sent a shockwave through the island, with the matter given prominent airtime, addressed in Parliament and becoming the subject of a social media storm.
Doctors at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital have launched a strike, demanding the immediate arrest of the suspect. The Government medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has called on the Government to apprehend the suspect responsible for the crime by today (12). The GMOA has also warned that if the suspect is not arrested today, they will initiate a trade union action across the North Central Province (NCP). Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala stated that the suspect who assaulted the said female doctor has been identified. Speaking during yesterday’s (11) Parliamentary session, he revealed that the suspect is an army deserter and that five Police teams have been deployed to arrest him. A similar incident occurred last year, where another lady doctor became a victim at Aranayaka District Hospital.
The rude reminder about the status quo of Sri Lanka’s society and the challenges an already battered health care sector faces came days after the Sri Lankan polity, corporate elites, and public institutions celebrated ‘Women’s Day’ where much was spoken about women in leadership roles, more inclusivity in policy-making and governance, and how much Sri Lankan women contribute to the national economy, industry and academia. However, the reality remains that we as a country have not been able to keep the public spaces, even ones where people go for shelter and medical assistance, safe and secure for our women.
Hospitals are supposed to be a place where you take refuge and seek help, and should not be a place where patients and medical staff alike have to watch out for shadows and cower in fear of being attacked. To say we have let down our medical community with this insecurity is an understatement, as such crimes have happened before.
A large segment of Sri Lanka’s medical community is made up of women. Medical professionals who spoke to The Daily Morning said that women doctors, paramedical staff and nurses have long complained to the authorities about the lack of safety and security in the hospital system across the island. However, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. We ask a lot of our medical professionals, yet we are slow to respond to their concerns about their safety and wellbeing. Doctors who do their rounds through the wards often do so alone, even at night; matrons and nurses and auxiliary staff are known to do their rounds in pairs. Most hospitals in Sri Lanka power down for the night, with very little lighting kept on in the common spaces and near wards. Doctors and staff have no mobile emergency communication devices like walkie-talkies or networked radios like there are in western countries to call for help. There are no panic buttons, and access control to staff areas is not secure. Many staff areas have no lockable access doors. CCTV coverage within public hospitals is almost non-existent. While there is a police desk at the entrance to many State hospitals, there are no roaming police patrols within the premises, nor are there private guards in any meaningful number to ensure the premises are patrolled effectively. One female medical specialist who spoke to The Daily Morning stated that last year, there had been a discussion among some of them about taking up martial arts classes out of fear of being attacked in their workplace. Shame!
It must also be observed that medical trade unions that often attract public support to their many causes and protests have largely remained silent about this situation? Do they not care about their female colleagues? What is the Health Ministry doing about this? Why have they not acted on the concerns raised over the years? Why does it seem that when an incident happens, there is a reactionary bit of posturing, but no concrete action is taken either by the State or the trade unions? What a sad state of affairs this is.