{"id":94972,"date":"2014-09-12T21:49:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-13T01:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/?p=69050"},"modified":"2014-09-12T21:49:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-13T01:49:08","slug":"aiims-case-of-assault-on-arunachali-female-nurse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.manipur.org\/news\/2014\/09\/12\/aiims-case-of-assault-on-arunachali-female-nurse\/","title":{"rendered":"AIIMS CASE OF ASSAULT ON ARUNACHALI FEMALE NURSE"},"content":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE<\/strong>
\nDate: 12.09.2014<\/p>\n

Nurses of AIIMS protest against assault on female nurse of New Emergency Ward<\/strong>
\n FIR lodged Hauz Khas PS against the concerned patient\u2019s relatives<\/strong><\/p>\n

In yet another disturbing incident of the precarious conditions in which nurses are performing their duties, the capital city\u2019s premiere medical institution, AIIMS<\/strong>, reported a serious case of physical assault of a female nurse<\/strong> by visiting relatives of a patient admitted in the hospital\u2019s New Emergency Ward. The incident occurred on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m.<\/strong> when the female nurse on night duty asked five visitors of a patient, Mr. Sunil Kumar, to leave the New Emergency Ward as it was against the hospital policy to have more than one relative in the Ward at any given time.<\/strong> The female nurse, who is from Arunachal Pradesh<\/strong>, unfortunately became a victim of extremely aggressive behaviour on the part of two of the patient\u2019s female relatives. Although the nurse maintained polite body language and asked them to calm down and step out of the ward, the situation merely worsened. One of the accused female visitors hit the nurse and has left strangulation marks on her throat.<\/p>\n

The incident left the AIIMS nurses on duty highly enraged, and they called a spontaneous strike that lasted until the Hauz Khas police filed the FIR. The nurses\u2019 representatives met the Director of AIIMS, who has promised to follow up the case with the Police (Please find attached a copy of the FIR).<\/p>\n

The incident, however, is not one of its kind and is indicative of the hostile conditions of work that persist across hospitals, nursing homes, etc.<\/strong> In particular, such incidents are the result of larger problems like crumbling infrastructure in government hospitals and the significant shortage of nursing staff<\/strong>. In the case of the lack of adequate nursing staff, relatives and patient\u2019s visitors become more prone to aggressive behaviour and impatience. Such shortage encourages the patients and their relatives to be believe that the hospital staff are \u2018deliberately overlooking\u2019 their needs\/requests or are \u2018simply throwing their weight around\u2019, which is of course far from true. Misbehaviour and assaults are also spreading due to the lack of adequate infrastructure in government hospitals, such as waiting rooms\/lobbies for patient\u2019s relatives to rest\/wait in. In the process, it is hapless nurses, very often female nurses, who then bear the brunt of visitors\u2019 and patients\u2019 anger\/frustration.<\/p>\n

Of course, as noted by Chinglen Khumukcham, of the North East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS)<\/strong>, many working persons from the North East are very easily made targets of racist comments and assaults. This is especially so with North East women, like female nurses, etc. who are considered as \u2018docile\u2019 and \u2018different\u2019, and are therefore easily harassed. This assault in particular, according to NEFIS, was racist in nature since the accused kept pointing out to her physical features when attacking her. Similarly, Maya John<\/strong> from Centre for Struggling Women (CSW)<\/strong> noted that the larger exploitative trend of nurses\u2019 working conditions and poor conditions of healthcare was allowing government hospitals to continuously expose their women work force to risks like assaults, sexual harassment, etc.<\/p>\n

Chinglen Khumukcham
\nNorth East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS)
\nPh: 7838983871<\/p>\n

Maya John
\nCentre for Struggling Women (CSW)
\nPh: 9350272637<\/p>\n

\n

Below is copy of FIR for the case:<\/strong><\/p>\n