Doctor rape-murder: Centre to constitute committee for suggestions on safety of healthcare professionals

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Saturday assured the protesting doctors that it would form a panel to review the security measures available in the hospitals for better protection of the doctors, but stopped short of making any commitment on a central legislation for the protection of healthcare workers.

“In view of the concerns expressed by the associations, the ministry assured them of constituting a committee to suggest all such possible measures for ensuring the safety of healthcare professionals. Representatives of all stakeholders including the state governments will be invited to share their suggestions with the committee,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Top ministry officials met the representatives of the Indian Medical Association, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association, and Resident Doctors’ Associations of government medical colleges and hospitals of Delhi who are on protest for the last one week following the gruesome rape and murder of a lady doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata.

The meeting took place hours before the protesting doctors staged a march in central Delhi.

The IMA on Saturday wrote to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a central law, arguing a central Act incorporating the amendments of 2020 in the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 (for the protection of doctors during the pandemic period) would strengthen the existing 25 state legislations. India’s largest association of doctors referred to a 2019 draft law on the protection of healthcare workers.

“The security protocols of all hospitals should be no less than an airport. Declaring the hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements is the first step. CCTVs, deployment of security personnel and the protocols can follow,” the IMA added in its letter to the PM.

Even as the associations put forward their demands regarding the safety and security of healthcare workers at the workplace, the ministry officials said they were sensitive to such demands and assured them of all possible efforts to ensure the security of healthcare professionals.

But no clear commitment was given either on reconsidering a central legislation or declaring the hospitals as a “safe zone” like the airports.

The officials said that 26 states have already passed legislation for protection of healthcare workers in their respective states. The IMA officials, on the other hand, insist a central law is needed as an enabling mechanism for better implementation of the state laws, which for all practical purposes are inadequate and toothless.