The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing on a plea seeking protection of doctors in Government hospitals, saying since doctors have called off their strike in West Bengal and other states, there is no urgency to hear the matter.
The top court observed that it understand’s that safety of doctors is a serious issue but it cannot direct to depute police personnel with each and every doctor without taking into account the holistic picture.
A vacation Bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant refused to issue notice (to the Centre) at present but said that it is keeping the larger issue of protection of doctors open.
“When this matter was mentioned yesterday, we had directed to list it today because the strike by the medical fraternity in West Bengal and in some other States was continuing. On Monday, the strike was called off. Therefore we find no urgency to take up the matter. List the matter after summer vacation before appropriate bench,” it said. The Bench said safety of doctors is a serious issue and it needs to take a holistic view in providing security to doctors.
“We understand it is a serious issue but we can’t provide security to doctors at the cost of other citizens. We have to take a holistic view. We have to look at the larger picture like availability of police personnel and other things. We are not against protection to doctors but at the same time we cannot direct to depute police personnel with each and every doctor,” the Bench said.
Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) also filed an impleadment application seeking the court’s intervention into the plea already filed, saying protection needs to be provided to doctors across the country. PTI