NEW DELHI: The Central government on Friday directed all the hospitals, whether run by state or Centre, to file an FIR within six hours if any healthcare professional reports violence.
The Union Health Ministry’s directive came in the wake of resident doctors launching a nationwide strike to protest the brutal rape and murder of a trainee woman doctor in Kolkata.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has nearly 4 lakh members, has also given a 24-hour shutdown of OPD and elective surgeries in all the government, private and even corporate hospitals on Saturday. Issuing an order in this regard, Dr Atul Goel, Director General of Health Services (DGHS), said,
“Recently, it has been observed that violence has become common against doctors and other healthcare staff in government hospitals. A number of health workers suffer physical violence during the course of their duty.”
“Many are threatened or exposed to verbal aggression. Most of this violence is done by either the patient or the patient’s attendants. In view of the above, it is stated that in the event of any violence against any healthcare worker while on duty, the head of an institution shall be responsible for filing an institutional FIR within a maximum of 6 hours of the incident,” the office memorandum said.
The notice came hours before various resident doctors’ associations marched to Nirman Bhavan, which houses the Union Health Minister J P Nadda’s office and the health ministry. The protesting doctors demanded that the central government bring a central law to protect healthcare workers.
Earlier this week, the National Medical Commission, the country’s apex medical education regulator, also came out with a directive that in case of any incidence of violence, there should be a prompt investigation by the college management.
It also asked the medical colleges to file FIRs and submit an action taken report within 24 hours. On August 9, a post-graduate trainee woman doctor in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was sexually assaulted and murdered allegedly by a civic worker.