NEW DELHI: The Centre had proposed a model state law to protect healthcare workers following the nationwide protests after the rape and murder of a trainee postgraduate student in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. However, despite the government’s proposal, the Union Home Ministry and the Union Health Ministry are yet to hold a meeting to discuss the modalities of the law.
This comes as the Centre has retracted from its earlier proposal of a separate central law to deal with offences against healthcare professionals in 2019. Kerala-based RTI activist Dr K V Babu, who has been pursuing the issue, said the Home Ministry has acknowledged in the RTI that the model state law was proposed last year.
However, since the proposal was made in September, he said that both the ministries seem clueless about its status.
Dr Babu said that following the RG Kar Medical College case, the government proposed drafting a model state law for the protection of healthcare workers (HCWs), as acknowledged by the Central Public Information Officer of the Home Ministry in the RTI reply.
“Now, it seems to be kept in cold storage. This is a deplorable state of affairs, and I hope the Home Ministry will pursue the model state law,” he said.
Dr Babu said the Union Home Ministry conveyed to him on February 19 that after the first meeting of the National Task Force (NTF), it was “requested to prepare the draft model law for state/UTs for protection of healthcare professionals.”
The RTI reply said, “The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on September 5 constituted a sub-group with DGMS (Navy) as the convener, under the NTF, for strengthening the legal framework across all states.”
“No further information in this regard is available with the undersigned CPIO. Further, no communication has been issued by this ministry to the state home departments regarding the model state law,” said the RTI.
The RTI reply added that the information regarding the copy of the model state law prepared by the committee and file noting may be available with the Ministry of Health, which is primarily concerned with the subject or the convener of the sub-group.
The Indian Medical Association, which has over four lakh doctors as members and resident doctor associations, have been demanding a separate central act to protect healthcare workers against repeated violence.