New Delhi:The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday appealed to the Centre to declare hospitals as 'safe zones' and to implement laws for protecting medical practitioners.
The appeal comes in the backdrop of Kerala's Kollam incident where a 24-year-old house surgeon, Vandana Das was brutally murdered by a patient while she was treating him. IMA said that assaults on doctors have become a regular phenomenon. "IMA calls for the implementation of central laws and measures to prevent violence against healthcare professionals and to declare hospitals as 'safe zones'," IMA president Dr Sharad Kumar Agarwal said.
Condemning the Kerala incident, IMA urged the authorities to take stern action against the culprit. IMA stands in solidarity with the doctors and all healthcare professionals who put their lives at stake to provide essential medical care to those in need, Dr Agarwal added.
The IMA has called for a statewide strike on Thursday. though emergency services have been excluded. Secretary general of Common Medical Association, Dr JA Jayalal demanded resignation of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. "If doctors are not safe here, how can they go to the hospital to treat patients? I believe, this is a total failure of Kerala chief minister, health minister and police," said Jayalal.
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Criticising the incident, K Sudhakaran, Congress MP from Kannur said: "The alarming rise in attacks across the state is unacceptable. CPI-M must display political integrity and immediately dismiss the incompetent home minister responsible for this failure and ensure safety and dignity in the workplace."
A study conducted by the IMA has earlier found that 75 percent of Indian doctors have experienced violence of some kind in the workplace, with 63 percent unable to visit patients without fear of violent action.
