Manish Chandra Mishra

Bhopal/Delhi: The suicide of Dr Payal Tadvi has rocked the medical fraternity as well as the country. And even as the president of the Indian Medical Association, in an attempt to do damage control, has asserted that there is no caste-based discrimination in the field, experiences of several Dalit doctors tell a different story.

We bring you some ordeals, as narrated by a few doctors, who have alleged that they faced a lot of harassment during their MBBS days and continue to even now in their careers.

‘Upper caste students couldn’t believe a Dalit could top’

“Adham jati me shiksha paye, bhayahu yatha ahi dudh pilaye, which means educating a lower caste person is the same as feeding milk to a snake, is the Sanskrit shloka I used to hear several times a day from my HoD at Moti Lal Medical College in Allahabad,” recalls Dr. Surya Bali, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste and is currently working as additional professor at AIIMS Bhopal. He also holds a degree in Master of Health Administration from the University of Florida.

There are many doctors like Bali who have achieved great heights in their profession because of their talent, and yet, they face caste-based discrimination.

As his voice breaks while reliving the ordeal, Dr. Bali says, “From SGS Inter-College in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, to AIIMS Bhopal, there have been hundreds of incidents wherein fellow students and even teachers tormented me over my caste. In 1989, I topped in my Thakur-dominated college. In response, upper caste students tore up my marksheet, as they couldn’t believe that a Dalit student could stand first. They used to pass casteist remarks and mock me, asking why I was bothering to study as ultimately I would have to work in the fields with my parents.”

The discrimination with Dr. Bali went to a whole different level as he was not allowed to opt for the science stream after Std X. “Three teachers at the inter-college were against my decision to take science. Had Upadhyay sir [another teacher] not stepped in to help me, I wouldn’t have been able to become a doctor. He told the other teachers that as I was the topper and wanted to study science, they should allow me to. Similarly, another upper caste teacher, R L Upadhyay, at Banaras Hindu University helped me a lot during my tough college days.”

Each and every minute detail of his five years of MBBS at Moti Lal Nehru Medical College also is etched in Dr. Bali’s mind. He narrates, “Every day was like hell. The upper caste students used to ignore me, and when I befriended lower caste students, they would accuse me of being casteist. I survived five years in total isolation. There was also a lot of frustration inside me, because I never availed reservation and was a topper throughout; yet, people used to comment on my caste and colour, and I was at a loss about how to convince them to give me a chance.

“I remember, in my third year of MBBS during the final exam, the HoD of forensic medicine, U S Sinha, was conducting the viva along with an external examiner. The student group had the likes of Satendra Mishra, Shivashankar Tiwari, and Sushil Shukla among others. I answered all the questions, while they all failed to answer many. All of a sudden, my HoD stood up and started abusing these three upper caste students, saying ‘you must be ashamed a Dalit student is answering questions, and you, despite being upper caste, are failing to. I was left speechless initially, but later I spoke up against his casteist remark.”

After his studies, Dr. Bali landed up a job at the same [Moti Lal Nehru] college as an assistant professor, where he again faced discrimination, this time from the fellow teachers. “My HoD, Shraddha Dwivedi, used to recite the Sanskrit shloka to make me feel bad about my caste,” he says.

He believes that discrimination at AIIMS Bhopal has taken a toll on his career. “I had set up an excellent telemedicine branch in the community medicine department. The results were great, and Bhopal was setting an example in the field of telemedicine. People from remote areas were reaping its benefits, and yet, I had to face discrimination within AIIMS. One of its directors ruined the whole plan and kick me out of the project.”

‘Casteist remark is a common tool of harassment’

Another doctor, who was an intern in the same [gynaecology] department that Dr. Payal Tadvi was pursuing her residency in, says he has an idea what she must have gone through.

"The work culture of Gynac dept of nair is not friendly. I know how continuous pressure and harassment in the name of academics done by seniors at Gynac dept of nair hospital." adds Dr. Harshanand Popalwar, who was an intern in the gynaecology department in 2009.

Dr. Popalwar says, “we had Dr Ambedkar medicos association under it we used to be very active in uniting reserve category students to prevent such tragedies  [the suicide] and remove inferiority complex during my MBBS days, but the workload at the postgraduation level is so immense that it is not possible give time to such activities. Many post graduate students fell uncomfortable to come out and attend such types of program due to fear of reveling their cast. This is bitter truth! 

During my post graduation days a fellow student, who himself belongs to the OBC category, taunted me for being a SC category. I was a good student, so his behaviour stunned me. He was aware that no one can pass the exit exam with the help of reservation, and yet he kept insinuating that I trying to get in through quota and, hence, did not deserve the seat. But I was strong enough to handle the harassment and topped the batch.”

Dr. Popalwar now works at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital as a specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. His colleague, Dr. Chetan, says, “People ask me why I don’t have a surname. I come from a small village near Bengaluru, and I’m lucky that my father decided to drop the surname for me. As my classmates and doctors were unaware of my caste, they used to pass casteist remarks in front of me. Seeing such mentality from medical professionals is so frustrating. They [the upper castes] hate us so much…”

‘Casteism here hides behind white coats’

Casteism in the medical fraternity is as deep-rooted as in any other part of society, says Brajesh Lahri, an MD Ophthalmology student at AIIMS Delhi. “Just that it is not apparent, hidden behind white coats.”

“The first sentence I heard from the department head after joining was ‘Tum logon ke toh maje hain yaar, padhne ki bhi zarurat nahi (You people are lucky that you don’t even need to study)’; it was borne out of ignorance of the fact that I had qualified in the general category, and I was getting a radio diagnosis seat, which is considered the topmost in a good college. But I chose the branch I loved. That first comment was not the kind of welcome I was expecting at AIIMS,” he adds.

Dr. Lahri explains how such discrimination affects their studies. “When seniors distribute the surgical cases amongst juniors, the hidden casteism in them peeks out—a reserved category student gets the least number of cases, unless the senior is also from the reserved category or the reserved category junior has shown some really good surgical skills in front of everyone. So, basically, if it’s a choice between two juniors with average skills, one from the reserved category and the other from the general category, the case will go to the latter. It’s an unwritten rule.”