Surat: Women clerks of civic body forced to strip for fitness test

After the bizarre incident of 68 students of a Bhuj girls' college were forced to remove their underpants to prove they weren't menstruating, female trainee clerks of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) were made to strip and stand naked in state-run hospital, whilst the lady doctors did a gynecological finger test and asked personal questions, according to a report in The Times of India (TOI).

According to a complaint lodged by Surat Municipal Corporation Employee Union (SMCEU) with municipal commissioners, around 100 employees undergo fitness test on Thursday when they reached the Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research (SMIMER) for their mandatory fitness test.

TOI quoted a a senior corporation employee as saying,"Female employees were forced to stand naked together in groups of around 10 in a room where they did not have any privacy. The door was not properly closed and the only thing blocking the view from outside was a curtain."

Apart from the controversial finger test, even unmarried women were reportedly asked if they had ever been pregnant.

According to a report in TOI, some of the woman who were subjected to the finger test accused that the lady doctors who had conducted the test were behaving rudely with them.

On the other hand, male trainees undergo a general fitness test that included eye, ENT, heart and lung tests, besides an overall check-up.

TOI reported that the fitness test is mandatory for confirmation of an employee's service on completion of the three-year probation.

The issue was brought into knowledge of SMCEU by few of the trainee women who went through these tests.

“I have never heard such a test on women employees anywhere else,” said AA Shaikh, general secretary of the employees' union.

"If they (doctors) had any doubt about an employee’s health, they should have got tests done in an acceptable manner. Asking even unmarried women about past pregnancies is downright insulting,” Shaikh added.

According to a report in Times of India, head of the gynecology department at the hospital, Ashwin Vachhani said, "We have to examine women physically since it is mandatory as per the guidelines. I don't know if such tests are done on men, but in case of women we follow rules to find out if they have any specific illness.”

45-year-old female employee told that she had taken a fitness test around 20 years ago, but it did not involve any such procedures.