New Delhi:A day after the Supreme Court formed a National Task Force to find ways for an all-round solution to the safety and security of healthcare professionals, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday said that the issue of promulgating an ordinance for the Central Act for protection of Healthcare professionals remains to be addressed.
The IMA had several back-to-back meetings during the last 24 hours after the apex court intervened in the case of the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
Demanding a Central Act for the protection of healthcare professionals, the IMA has appealed to Union Health Minister JP Nadda that the draft bill 2019 incorporating the amendment clauses of the Epidemic Diseases Amendment Act, 2020 and the Code Grey Protocol of Kerala Government "Prevention Management of Violence against Healthcare workers" be proclaimed as an ordinance to instil confidence into the minds of the doctors in India.
The IMA said that the doctors are vulnerable in their workplace. The Centre has a bounden duty to provide safety and security to the doctors and other healthcare personnel. "Right to Life" is a fundamental right, it contended.
"25 state legislations in this regard have not prevented violence across against healthcare professionals. Very few FIRs have been lodged and very few convictions have happened. There is an urgent need to bring in a Central Act on Violence on Doctors and Hospitals. This is felt acutely by the medical fraternity of India," stated the letter signed by IMA president Dr RV Asokan and Secretary General Anil Kumar J Nayak.
The IMA said that the doctors stand as a separate class by the nature of their professional services.
"The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India acknowledged so much in the Jacob Mathew vs State of Punjab & Anr judgement of 2004. There are special laws enacted for specific exigencies like the POCSO Act as well. We, the Indian Medical Association, appeal to you that a special urgency exists in relation to the violence on doctors and hospitals," the IMA added.
The IMA also gave some incidents where doctors were killed in the workplace. The association claimed that Dr Sethulaxmi was killed at a workplace in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu on January 3, 2012; Dr Deben Dutta was killed in Teok Tea Estate, Jorhat, Assam on July 31, 2019, and Dr Vandana Das was killed in Kottarakkara, Kerala on May 10, 2023.
Hailing the intervention of the Supreme Court over the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital issue, the IMA also appealed to include its members on board of the National Task Force. The AIIMS resident doctors’ association has also decided to continue their strike.
Meanwhile, AIIMS-Delhi director Prof M Srinivas on Wednesday appealed to the resident doctors to resume duties in the interest of patient care. The AIIMS has also set up a committee to look into the safety and security of healthcare professionals in AIIMS.
Prof Srinivas said that the committee members will undertake collaborative internal security audits at AIIMs with regard to the safety and security of healthcare personnel.
"The committee is requested to visit all areas of AIIMS campus including outreach campuses like NCI Jhajjar, Haryana; NDDTC, Ghaziabad; CRHSP, Ballabgarh, Haryana during day and night and survey the security measures therein,” Prof Srinivas said.
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