Days after a trainee woman doctor was raped and killed at a state-run medical college in West Bengal, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has pressed for five demands for the safety and welfare of healthcare workers. This comes a day before the medical association has called for a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency medical services (from 6 am on Saturday to 6 am on Sunday) to protest against the alleged rape and killing of the postgraduate doctor and vandalism at RG Kar Medical College where the incident took place.
Speaking to news agency PTI, IMA chief Dr RV Asokan said 25 states have laws against attacks on doctors and hospitals but there have been no convictions so far. These laws are mostly ineffective on the ground and do not serve the purpose of deterrence, he added. "We request the government to reconsider introducing the draft Healthcare Service Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2019, incorporating the amendments in the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 as approved and passed by Parliament in the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act, 2020," Asokan said.
Here are five demands by IMA:
- All hospitals across the country should be declared safe zones like airports so that doctors can work without fear.
- There should be a central law to check violence on healthcare workers.
- The family of the victim in the Kolkata incident be given decent and dignified compensation.
- A decent investigation, and time-bound prosecution as well as appropriate punishment for the culprits of the Kolkata incident.
- The working hours and working conditions of the resident doctors should be regulated.
IMA announces 24-hour closure of non-emergency services
It should be mentioned here that the Indian Medical Association has announced a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency services from 6 am on August 17 to protest against the rape and murder of the trainee woman doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and the subsequent vandalism at the facility. Essential services will be maintained and casualty wards operational, the medical body said in a statement issued late on Thursday night. Out-patient departments (OPD) will not function and elective surgeries will not be conducted. The withdrawal is across all sectors wherever modern medicine doctors are providing services, the IMA said.
Kolkata doctor rape-murder case
It should be noted here that a postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at the hospital on August 9. Later, the semi-naked body of the 32-year-old woman was found in the seminar hall of the government-run hospital in Kolkata. A civic volunteer was arrested in connection with the crime the next day. Following this, the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the probe into the case from the Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
