The IMA on Saturday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “benign intervention” to bring a central law to check violence against healthcare personnel and declare hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements.
These are among the demands made by the apex doctors’ body in the backdrop of the alleged rape and murder of a medic at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and the subsequent vandalism at the facility.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which is observing a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency services from 6 am on Saturday, wrote to the prime minister, putting forward its five demands.
All essential services are being maintained and casualty wards manned, the IMA said in a statement.
“The 36-hour shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces to rest and adequate restrooms warrant thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors,” it added.
It has also demanded that hospitals be declared as safe zones, with the first step being mandatory security entitlements.
“Security protocols at hospitals should be no less than at airports. Declaring hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements is the first step. CCTV cameras, deployment of security personnel and the protocols can follow,” the IMA said.
It has demanded a central act incorporating the 2020 amendments in the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 into the draft Healthcare Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2019, saying it would strengthen the existing 25 state legislations.