Amid a nationwide strike by doctors protesting the rape and murder of a colleague in Kolkata, the Union Health Ministry today assured them that all possible measures will be taken to ensure their safety.
In an official statement, the Ministry announced the formation of a committee to propose measures for ensuring the safety of healthcare professionals. This announcement comes over a week after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, which sparked widespread protests across the country.
The assurances followed a meeting between representatives of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), the Indian Medical Association (IMA), and Resident Doctors’ Associations from government medical colleges and hospitals in Delhi with officials from the Health Ministry.
“The associations have expressed their concerns about the safety and security of healthcare workers in the workplace. The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has listened to their demands and assured them that all possible efforts will be made to ensure the security of healthcare professionals,” the ministry stated in its announcement.
“The representatives of all the associations were informed that the Government is fully aware of the situation and is responsive to their demands. It was noted that 26 states have already enacted legislation to protect healthcare workers within their jurisdictions,” the statement read.
Representatives of all stakeholders including the State Governments will be invited to share their suggestions with the Committee, it said. The ministry also requested the agitating doctors to resume their duties in the “larger public interest” and in view of the rising cases of dengue and malaria.
5 Demands Of Doctors On Nationwide Strike
The IMA has put forth the following five demands:
- It wants a significant policy to address violence against doctors and hospitals. The doctors’ body is pushing for a Central Act that would incorporate the amendments made in 2023 to the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 into the proposed Hospital Protection Bill of 2019. This move, it said, would strengthen the existing legislation in 25 states. The IMA has suggested that an ordinance similar to the one enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic would be appropriate in this situation.
- The IMA has also demanded that hospitals be declared safe zones with the first step being mandatory security entitlements. “The security protocols of all hospitals should be no less than (that of) 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,” it said in the statement.
- The IMA has demanded a thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors, including the 36-hour duty shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces to take a rest.
- The IMA has also called for a “meticulous and professional” investigation of the Kolkata horror in a specific time frame and rendering of justice besides identifying those involved in the vandalism of the hospital premises and awarding exemplary punishment.
- The doctors’ body has also sought an appropriate and dignified compensation to the bereaved family commensurate with the cruelty inflicted.