IMA calls for central law to protect doctors, demands hospitals be declared safe zones

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has once again written to the National Task Force (NTF), which has been tasked with developing protocols to ensure the safety and security of healthcare professionals, reiterating its demand for a central law against violence towards doctors and hospitals, and for declaring hospitals as safe zones.

The IMA noted that the Supreme Court constituted the NTF to build a national consensus and establish protocols in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The association’s submission was structured into three sections.

The NTF was set up by the apex court in response to protests by doctors and healthcare workers following the recent rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

“The only preventive strategy that could be applied across the board and across all the states is deterrent central law in statute. Absence of such law has resulted in half-hearted actions by the police and less that optimum investigations and prosecution of the incidence,” it said.

Reasoning that deterrence is the best form of prevention, the IMA said that unlike other measures, a strong central law will prevent violence across all sectors especially the small and medium ones. It will serve as an enabling Act to the state legislations. Secondly, for its demand for declaring hospitals as safe zones, the IMA said the concept of safe zones could be embedded in the proposed law as well.

“Declaration as safe zone entitles the hospitals with security entitlements. These security entitlements however should be tempered with patient friendly nature and cultural sensitivity,” it said.

Thirdly, the IMA urged for improvements in the working and living conditions of resident doctors. It pointed out that, since the establishment of the resident system, there have been numerous administrative and judicial pronouncements.
“Yet few things have changed on the ground,” it said.

“We the medical profession of India expect the National Task Force to live up to our expectations and instill confidence into the minds of the demoralised doctor community,” the doctors’ body said in the letter.

The IMA further noted that it is the national organisation for doctors practising modern medicine, founded in 1928, and played a role in the country’s freedom struggle. Its headquarters are based in New Delhi. The association is present in nearly all districts across the country, with 1,800 local branches, 28 state branches, and 3,85,000 members. The IMA also has a presence in all medical colleges nationwide through its Junior Doctors Network and Medical Students Network, as mentioned in the letter.

The letter also highlighted that the entire medical fraternity of India responded to the IMA’s call by withdrawing all services, except for emergencies and casualty cases, on 17 August.