Surat strip shame: Keep standing if you want job, doctor told undressed women

SURAT: Fear of losing their jobs made most of the probationary women clerks of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) swallow the pain of humiliation at the hand of the doctors at the state-run Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research (SMIMER) hospital.
For, the ones who dared to raise their voice against the humiliation, a gynaecologist was reportedly quick to silent them asserting “Job karvi hoy to ubha revu pade” (If you want the job, keep standing) The ignominious ‘fitness test’ that many of the 400 probationary clerks, who have completed three years of training, took at SMIMER hospital ended in trauma for a majority of them.The women were made to stand undressed in groups of around 10 in a ‘barely covered room’ for more than two hours. Some were also alleged to have faced the controversial ‘finger examination’ and embarrassing questions in front of others.
The matter came to light after a few SMC staffers complained to their seniors in different departments about the medical ordeal.
‘Bosses didn’t take swift action’
The seniors informed their respective bosses, but no one took immediate action to halt the practice, claiming it to be mandatory as prescribed in government rules for recruitment.
They also pointed out that a single complaint may create an unnecessary issue for the individual candidate. “A senior corporation employee, in whom one of the women confided, alerted me but I thought it was a one-off case. Never imagined so many women suffered such humiliation,” a senior officer told TOI.
Finally, when top bosses asked some senior SMC staffers to probe the allegations, it opened the proverbial Pandora’s Box. Apparently, such instances were common knowledge among corporation staffers.
Some women probationers are also known to have delayed getting the fitness test after other staffers shared embarrassment they suffered. “I know some women who were afraid to go to the hospital after colleagues who underwent the test shared horrifying details,” said a source. The top brass of the civic body is now working to find how the humiliating practice went unnoticed especially at the SMCmanaged hospital. Despite several attempts, Dr Ashwin Vachhani, head of gynaecology department at SMIMER was not available for comments.