He was an immense man. At around 2 am, he barged into the duty room, his face flustered. Dr Sruthi, who completed House Surgeoncy in a Medical College in Kozhikode was startled. She was on night duty.
"I was sitting alone in the duty room in the hospital at 2 am when a man stepped in suddenly and enquired about the medicine a patient should be given. He was a stout figure and was a bit agitated. He was not supposed to be there in the first place and came in without knocking. However, he went away when I shouted and other nurses rushed in," she says recollecting one of the chilling experiences she had to go through while doing night-shifts.
According to her, medical college hospitals are understaffed vis-a-vis the volume of patients and cases attended. She recalled several instances when she endured the pressure of having to attend too many patients and the angst of bystanders for a slight delay in response to their demands. She also pointed out the fearful strides she has to make from the hospital to the hostel late in the night or in the wee hours through a secluded path after duty.
“Above all, people should understand that the healthcare system is for the public and that when there are regulations in place like restrictions on time or the number of people to be let inside the in-patient wards, they should be adhered to properly. Only then will the service and service providers will be able to function smoothly,” she said.
Though Sunita, working with an MNC in Electronic City, Bengaluru, has never encountered any serious threats during night shifts, but, it has never been a cakewalk either. "I see the same men at night I have come across in the day in the corridor, in the parking space,in the lift and so on. But the change in their glance at night or in an isolated space may send shudders through the spine," she says. "When we stare back to register what's happening is taken as consent or an invite. Don't know when they would realise the truth," she says and adds, "women-safety is something that comes to the fore whenever serious crimes take place and is put in the back burner soon after.”
Prashant, Manager of a finance team in a UK-based company in Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, narrates how the transportation of women employees is taken care of during night shifts and the hurdles encountered.
There are various night shifts in our company ranging from shifts that end at 10.00 pm to the ones that end at 4.00 am. "And, it's mandatory that security personnel goes along with every woman employee who works on the night shift and drops her at her residence. The security is provided even for women employees who finish their duty at 9.00 pm,” he says.
"Usually, travel vendors are on contract for transportation of employees. When any driver misbehaves, the entire fleet to which the driver belongs is removed from the contract. However, he admits there are incidents of under-reporting by women employees of abusive or inappropriate behaviours from cab drivers lest they exact revenge.
Prashant says some companies have installed apps to track vehicles which drop women employees after night shifts. "This is to make sure that the vehicles are not deviating from the original track. But I have no idea how feasible that procedure is," quips Prashant.
