Junior docs at Mys medical college raise security issues

Mysuru: The rape and murder of a PG trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital have raised concerns about the safety of junior doctors (undergraduates) and resident doctors (postgraduates) working at the govt-run Mysuru Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI).
At a time when the hospital is celebrating its 100th anniversary, the doctors are feeling scared and terrified while working in the odd hours especially after midnight.Even the incident at Kolkata hospital happened around 3am.
The doctors have pointed out that the KR Hospital is poorly lit and lacks adequate and hygienic toilets for the working juniors and resident doctors. The incident at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, also a govt-run institute, has left them shocked and afraid to work during the night hours.
Restrooms located far
from working units
Unlike Victoria Hospital, a government facility in Bengaluru, MMCRI teaching hospitals—KR Hospital, Cheluvamba Hospital, and PK Sanatorium—do not have duty doctors’ rooms. About 40% of the doctors working in the first two hospitals are girls. The restrooms are located far from the working units, forcing doctors to walk through poorly lit corridors where men claiming to be relatives of patients sleep, sometimes drunk. There have been incidents of doctors being stalked at night, and the Kolkata incident has highlighted the need to address this issue, they claimed.
The toilets are either dirty or reserved for use by professors only, they claim, stating that in comparison, Victoria Hospital is more organised and appears safer, with security guards everywhere and duty rooms with restrooms.
Dr KR Dakshayani, dean and director of MMCRI, admitted that there are inadequate restrooms in the old buildings at the teaching hospitals. However, directions have been given to use the restrooms in Casualty, Operation Theatre, Surgical blocks, and the medicine block to avoid walking long distances. Steps are being taken to address the complaints of washrooms being used by staff nurses.
Meeting convened
After the Kolkata incident, the dean said a meeting was convened comprising of medical superintendents, hostel wardens and department heads to take stock of the situation and representations from junior and resident doctors were also taken about the situation. The doctors have requested clean toilets and brightly-lit hospital campuses due to complete darkness in the night.
Dr Dakshayani told TOI that instruction has been given to medical superintendents to install high beam light poles on the campus as a precautionary measure. Security measures have been strengthened at hostels and anyone leaving hostels after 8pm is not allowed.