New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed National Task Force (NTF) will hold its first meeting on Tuesday to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors and other healthcare professionals. The 10-member task force was constituted by the apex court last week after it took suo moto cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital which sparked widespread protests including by healthcare staff, impacting medical services. The Supreme Court had said the cabinet secretary, home secretary, health secretary, National Medical Commission chairperson and the National Board of Examinations president shall be the ex-officio members of the task force.
The members of the task force include Surgeon Vice Admiral Arti Sarin, Director General (Medical Services, Navy); Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, the Chairman and Managing Director of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad; Dr M Srinivas, the Director of AIIMS-Delhi; Dr Pratima Murthy, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru; Dr Goverdhan Dutt Puri, AIIMS Jodhpur Executive Director; Dr Saumitra Rawat, Chairperson, Institute of Surgical Gastroenterology, GI and HPB Onco-Surgery and Liver Transplantation and Member, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. The other members are: Professor Anita Saxena, Vice-Chancellor of Pandit B D Sharma Medical University, Rohtak; Dr Pallavi Saple, Dean, Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai; Dr Padma Srivastava, former professor at the Department of Neurology, AIIMS-Delhi.
