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Doctors across the country have been calling for the swift enactment of a special law to address violence against health care workers and the implementation of improved safety protocols within medical facilities to ensure a safe working environment for all medical personnel. (data map)
Official sources, however, said that enacting a central law based on the RG Kar case “will not have any significant impact” as the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at a Kolkata facility was not a case of doctor-patient violence
Following the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital amid protests by resident doctors demanding a central law, the health ministry has ordered 25 per cent enhanced security deployment in all union government hospitals, officials said.
In addition to standard security protocols, government hospitals will also approve the deployment of police officers based on individual needs after conducting security assessments, officials said.
However, official sources said that framing a central law based on the RG Kar case “will not have any significant impact” as the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at a Kolkata hospital was not a case of doctor-patient violence.
They said crime and rape were already covered under existing laws.
They further said that 26 states including West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Assam, Karnataka and Kerala and The federal territory has passed legislation to protect healthcare workers. In all these states, these offenses are cognizable and non-bailable.
Therefore, introducing a law, even a central law, also based on the RG Kar case, which was not a case of doctor-patient violence, will not have any huge impact, an official source said.
They said they have held meetings with some resident physician associations and explained these aspects to them.
More importantly, a committee chaired by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will be formed to look into various aspects of safety and facilities at residential hospitals such as duty rooms, working hours and conditions and canteen services.
“Hospitals are public facilities and cannot be turned into fortresses. We have urged doctors to call off the strike as patient care is affected,” an official source said.
The ongoing doctors' strike in the national capital over the Kolkata incident ended a week on Sunday, causing hardship to patients.
Doctors across the country have been calling for the swift enactment of a special law to address violence against health care workers and the implementation of improved safety protocols within medical facilities to ensure a safe working environment for all medical personnel.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also sought “benign” intervention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfill their demands, which include enacting a central law to curb violence against healthcare workers and declaring hospitals such as airports as safe zones and empowering Mandatory security rights.
On Sunday evening, the resident doctors here announced that the strike would continue and decided to provide elective OPD services in around 36 specialties, including internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, paediatrics, ophthalmology and orthopedics, to patients outside Nirman Bhawan on Monday.
Emergency services at the hospital will continue as before, they said.
(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from United News Agency-PTI)
