Stir held across country over violence against health workers
The “Save the Saviors” protest was peaceful and did not affect the services in the hospitals, Dr AK Ravikumar, honorary state secretary of IMA, was quoted as saying
Nearly 250 resident doctors’ associations on Friday joined a nationwide protest against recent incidents of violence on doctors and demanded a central legislation to curb such cases. The protest was jointly organised by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA).
“There have been so many instances of violence in just the last couple of months. We demand that the government passes a central law to prevent violence against doctors...,” said Dr Manish Jangra, general secretary, FAIMA.
The “Save the Saviors” protest was peaceful and did not affect the services in the hospitals, Dr AK Ravikumar, honorary state secretary of IMA, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
On June 1, a doctor posted at a Covid Care Centre in Assam was assaulted by the relatives of a patient who succumbed to the virus. On April 26, relatives of a deceased patient vandalised the emergency ward and injured several employees of Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo hospital.
“Currently, 21 states have local laws but what we need is a strong central law to protect doctors from violence...,” said the IMA in a letter.
In 2019, the home ministry opposed a draft bill to prevent violence against health care staff, saying that the special law was not feasible as health is a state subject. The bill sought to impose a jail term of up to 10 years for assaulting doctors.
