New Delhi: The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (Mohfw) has notified four theme-based sub-groups on the recommendations of the National Task Force to address the concerns highlighted by the Supreme Court in the wake of protests by doctors following the RG Kar rape and murder incident. The Supreme Court has earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder case of a trainee woman doctor at a state-run medical college and hospital in Kolkata and had constituted a 10-member National Task Force (NTF) to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other health care professionals. The Union Health Ministry issued an office memorandum notifying the four sub-groups of the NTF, each of which have been mandated with four themes — strengthening infrastructure of medical institutions, strengthening security systems in medical institutions, revamping working conditions of health care professionals and strengthening of legal framework across all states. The office memorandum added “… following four theme based sub-groups are constituted on the recommendations of NTF to address the concerns highlighted and areas suggested by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its orders dated 20.08.2024 and 22.08.2024.”
The sub-groups may hold meetings with the stakeholders who have submitted their views on the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Mohfw) portal and such other stakeholders. They finalise their recommendations based on such interactions as well as inputs received from the state governments and medical institutions being collated by DGHS through the online portal. The sub-groups may further give their recommendations along with an action plan to Mohfw in three weeks, which would then be placed before the NTF for finalisation within the timelines set by the Supreme Court, the memorandum said. In an annexure attached with the memo, the ministry also detailed the terms of reference for the sub-groups according to which it shall formulate effective recommendations to remedy the issues of concern pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other related matters.