New Delhi: Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday submitted a memorandum to Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan demanding a stringent Central law and its proper implementation to curtail violence on medical professionals. IMA President Dr JA Jayalal and secretary-general Dr Jayesh M Lele called on Bhushan and submitted their memorandum coinciding with the national protest day. They also submitted a memorandum to Delhi police commissioner SN Shrivastava for enhancing security to the hospitals in the national capital.
“More than 3.5 lakh doctors and medical practitioners across India took part in the protest day,” the IMA said. All across the country, in every state in different hospitals, the doctors and healthcare professionals wore black badges and ribbons. Wearing black shirts they raised the slogan “Save the Saviours” and uploaded their photographs on social media, the IMA said.
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“The medical professionals from other speciality organizations like ASI, API and FOGSI among others also joined the protest. Many corporate hospitals had erected hoardings in front of their hospitals demanding safety of doctors,” the IMA said. In Delhi, the protest was organized in 10 different places including AIIMS, IMA complex, North Delhi and East Delhi.
The different IMA branches also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister requesting him to ensure the safety of the medical fraternity and also take appropriate action on people who are involved in spreading false news against vaccination and its protocol. In many medical colleges, the students boycotted the classes and organized a virtual students’ parliament in which more than 1,000 students participated, the IMA said.
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“It was a unique protest in which the Indian medical fraternity has uniformly expressed its anguish and pain due to the assault. The security of the hospitals shall be enhanced and the hospitals shall be declared as protected zones. People who assault the doctors shall be punished under the fast-track trial mode,” the IMA said. The nationwide protest was organized following several incidents where doctors, health care workers were brutally attacked in various places across India.
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