Unsafe hospitals

There are more and more reports about women facing a serious threat in the place where they should be safest of all. One would imagine that hospitals, set up for the treatment of people who are not well, would offer a safe haven to those requiring medical help of any kind. But this is not the case. Over the last two years, there have been at least five reports of patients or nurses being harassed in hospitals. And because we did not act with sufficient force at the time against the culprits there has been another incident.

This one comes at the Larkana General Hospital, where a young woman who had broken her leg was brought in by her husband for an operation to plaster and mend the broken joint. After being taken to the operation theatre, according to the patient's own account, she was given drugs and was then reportedly raped by three paramedics. When the doctor came in, she informed him of the incident, but he ordered her not to tell anyone what had happened and then carried out the operation as if nothing had happened. Following this, the victim's husband filed an FIR and the three paramedics were arrested. However, the doctor in question remains free.

This is the pattern we see again and again – in every part of the country. We also do not know how many cases go unreported because women and girls are reluctant to report sexual assault of any kind. In this case too, unless the doctor is arrested, no precedent would be set. We need to ensure that other doctors that protect rapists in their hospitals are punished per the law. Of course, in other cases doctors have themselves been the rapists or the persons guilty of harassment.

This is not a small matter. The Pakistan Medical Commission needs to take action, and investigate the incident reported from Larkana. It also needs to examine incidents reported in the past and see if any punishment was given to the culprits. Unless there is a penalty, women will remain at risk. Like all other human beings, women and girls can of course not avoid going to hospital at times when they are ill or injured. Therefore, the usual comments we hear from the religious right, that they should stay within their homes, becomes completely irrelevant in this case at least. Only regular, determined police action and action by the commission heading hospitals and doctors can stop such horrendous crimes from occurring.