Two years ago, a Delhi nurse reported being sexually molested by an operation theatre technician during a surgery. The man groped her breasts as he helped her wear a LEAD apron, radiation safety clothing worn with assistance. An internal inquiry at the hospital exposed a pattern of similar abuse endured by several female staffers at the technician’s hands.

The nurse, however, did not file a written complaint with the Internal Complaint Committee, a body tasked with addressing complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace under the Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment Act. The hospital nonetheless acted on her verbal report and fired the technician, but without a written complaint, the termination letter did not specify the reason for his dismissal.

Professor Raminder Kalra, principal of the Holy Family Hospital, where the incident took place, told Newslaundry that the ICC was set up at the hospital in 2013 when the PoSH Act was enacted, “but many women are still scared to report these incidents in writing. So we act on verbal complaints too. It helps women feel confident in the system.”

This incident reveals the challenges women still face in reporting workplace sexual harassment, even with protection mechanisms in place. As per data, women health workers are highly vulnerable to sexual harassment and abuse. And the 31-year-old junior doctor’s rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College Hospital has once again put the spotlight on women’s safety at workplaces, especially hospitals. In fact, a preliminary investigation by the National Commission for Women revealed that the RG Kar Hospital lapsed in safety and security measures and infrastructure.

So how can a hospital foster a safe and supportive workplace for women workers? What measures and policies ensure their safety and create an environment where women feel empowered to report incidents of harassment or abuse? Holy Family Hospital has some suggestions in crafting a safe workplace.

CCTV cameras, hotspots, separate resting rooms for men, women 

Professor Kalra said that the Kolkata case could have been avoided by just providing facilities such as CCTVs and gendered resting rooms. “All these are basic facilities.”

The Holy Family Hospital has department-wise separate resting rooms for men and women staff, including the junior doctors. They are located between the general and private wards on each floor, with the corridors under CCTV surveillance, for the convenience and safety of doctors. There are also gender-specific changing rooms equipped with lockers for doctors, nurses, and the housekeeping staff.  

It has also installed 165 CCTVs to cover most of its 21-acre premises. The administrative officials told Newslaundry that the cameras are tested every Monday, and if they are found to be not functioning, they are fixed within 24 hours. The administration also prepares a detailed report on the CCTVs – on their cleaning, connection, view, and voltage – every three months. Newslaundry viewed its reports for 2024. 

The security team has also identified the most vulnerable areas for attacks on doctors – the ICU and emergency units – and maintains increased vigilance at these “hotspots”.   

Raj Kishore Yadav, head of the security and housekeeping team, showed the audiovisuals of the CCTV installed at the Emergency, saying that “whenever our monitoring unit spots a mob of people gathering or listens to them arguing with doctors or guards, we immediately rush for extra security. Although we have already deployed bouncers for 24 hours at these spots.”

Yadav added that his team is also responsible for ensuring that the seminar halls or OPD areas are locked as soon as they are not in use. 

ICC awareness, women leaders, self-defense training 

On being asked about the ICC, hospital housekeeping staff Sudha Gupta says that she “knows the procedure to file a complaint and would not hesitate to report an incident. It makes us feel safe that the guidelines that are preached are also followed.”

The hospital conducts awareness drives about the ICC, including regular staff meetings chaired by department supervisors and the distribution of pocket booklets on sexual harassment, related laws, and the process to file a complaint with the committee. The details of the committee members are also pasted on the notice boards across the hospital and college. 

Even at the time of joining college, a two-week orientation programme is organised, including a session on ICC for both the students and their parents. A 15-day self-defense workshop is also held by the Delhi police, to be compulsorily attended by college freshers and voluntarily joined by the hospital and college staff. Professor Kalra said that the self-defense classes “see high participation from the hospital staff as well. It’s practical and not only theoretical.”

But while harassment by colleagues and peers comes under the purview of the ICC, any incident involving the patients or their family members is not dealt with by the committee. The hospital administration, however, intervenes even in instances involving outsiders, said professor Kalra, adding that “this is one of the most vulnerable professions, and so the doctors should be taught to not tolerate any of this.”

Recalling an instance involving a patient’s family member, the senior doctor said that the hospital took stringent action some months ago when a man tried to get in touch with one of the nurses after the patient’s discharge, asking her to meet outside the hospital. 

“This made her feel uncomfortable. She complained about the person to her supervisor, after which the director, security team, and doctors were alerted. The patient’s unique ID number was noted at the hospital’s counter and the next time they visited the hospital for the follow-up, the security was informed. They took the patient to the director’s office, where they were warned that if they repeated it, the hospital would stop attending to them,” said professor Kalra.  

Staff at the hospital told Newslaundry that the administration also promotes women in leadership positions. 

Anjali Sharma, who was hired as a supervisor in the security and housekeeping department about eight months ago, said, “The hospital was looking for a woman supervisor because the women employees in the team felt awkward to ask for menstrual leaves or to share their health issues with a male boss.” The team has about 20 women out of the total strength of 60 employees. 

65 percent women staff,  so ‘more heard’ 

The hospital staff told Newslaundry that Austrian doctor Anna Dengel – who founded the Medical Mission Sisters that set up the Holy Family Hospital in Delhi in 1953 – believed that a group of women health professionals could help more women have access to health care “they deserved”.  

More than half a century later, the hospital has predominantly women staff. At least 65 percent of its about 1,200 workers are women. Out of the 30 departments operational in the hospital, only one does not have any women employees: the maintenance department, involved in carpentry, masonry, and electricity-related work. At present, the hospital is run by the New Delhi Holy Family Society and managed by the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese. 

Several staffers told Newslaundry that the higher number of women workers in the hospital makes them “more heard”.

Meanwhile, the Holy Family College of Nursing for graduation and post-graduation, set up in the hospital premises in 2002 and affiliated with the University of Delhi, also has a higher percentage of women students. Out of 450 students pursuing bachelors and masters at the college, only five are men.

‘ICC only on papers in most hospitals, no implementation’

“ICC only exists on papers,” said Dr Meet Ghonia, national secretary of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, on both government and private hospitals. “Most senior doctors would be aware of them but not women from nursing and housekeeping staff because no proper orientation programmes are held for them.”

Dr Ghonia said that junior staff are more likely to “face harassment from either their colleagues or patients and they are dependent on their supervisors to take action. But no formal channel is opted because hospitals are scared that these matters will get highlighted in the media.” 

Dr Gagan Jain, an Uttar Pradesh-based ENT surgeon, also agreed that in his two decades of experience working at “topmost government and private hospitals, I have never heard of an ICC”. He said that young doctors are “vulnerable to inappropriate touch on duty, but hospitals do not take any action. At the most, I have heard senior doctors suggesting to lock our doors from inside while resting.”

A second-year BSc nursing student at a Delhi-based college told Newslaundry, “At times, patients just creep us by their behaviour or stalk us on social media. It really scares me. But I see no complaint mechanism at hospitals. Most do not even inform us about the ICC.”

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