New Delhi: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) wants the Central Government to enact a law in parliament which deals with violence against medical staff and which will act as a deterrent who commit violence against medical staff. IMA has demanded to Union Health Minister J P Nadda seeking enactment of a special central law to curb attacks and violence against doctors as a “deterrence” measure, besides the declaration of hospitals as safe zones. The IMA made the demands, which included defined security measures, as resident doctors at government hospitals across the country held protests and strikes on Monday over the recent rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee in Kolkata, raising the issue of the safety of medical staff in the workplace.
The Association said that 25 states have laws on attacks on doctors and hospitals but these are mostly ineffective on the ground and do not serve the purpose of deterrence.
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“The absence of a special central enactment is one of the reasons. We kindly request you to reconsider introducing the Draft Legislation “The Healthcare Service Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of violence and damage to property) Bill, 2019, incorporating the amendments in the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, approved and passed by the Parliament in Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act, 2020,” the IMA said. The 2019 bill drafted by the Health Ministry to check violence against doctors and other healthcare professionals was put on the back burner after the Home Ministry stated that there was no need for a separate law in this regard.
The draft bill had provisions to punish people who assault on-duty doctors and other healthcare professionals by imposing a jail term of up to 10 years. The IMA had on Saturday given a 48-hour ultimatum to authorities to arrest the culprits in the Kolkata case and warned of a nationwide stir.