THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stung by the death of 25-year-old doctor Vandana Das at the hands of a patient at Kottarakkara taluk hospital a day earlier, the government on Thursday swung into action and decided to bring in an ordinance to amend a decade-old Act and bring in stringent provisions to prevent violence against medical staff.
The ordinance amending The Kerala Health Service Persons and Healthcare Services Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012, or the Hospital Protection Act, will be brought in the next cabinet meeting. It will have necessary provisions to ensure the safety of health workers, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said after a high-level meeting convened in the wake of Dr Vandana’s death to discuss steps to take agitating doctors into confidence.
The amendment will introduce changes to the definition of health institutions, health workers, and the punishments. Chief Secretary V P Joy has been asked to oversee the preparation of the amendments to be considered before the next cabinet meeting. Additional chief secretaries of the home and health departments, principal secretary (health) and law secretary will prepare the report after talks with Kerala University of Health Science and doctors’ organisations.
“Petitions and directions of doctors and medical students will be considered while preparing the report,” Pinarayi said. Earlier in the day, the CM met representatives of doctors’ organisations protesting against the doctor’s death. They demanded that the government announce a specific time frame to bring out the ordinance.
Alert system to come up in all hospitals in state
At the high-level meeting, the CM directed officials of the health and home departments to take joint steps to ensure the safety of health workers.
Hospitals will be divided into three categories. As per the information received, the first category will have all major public hospitals – medical colleges, district hospitals, general hospitals, and women and children hospitals. It was decided to establish police outposts in these hospitals. Police officers in the rank of SI, assistant SI, and civil police officers shall be deployed in these outposts on deputation. Pinarayi directed state police chief Anil Kant to ensure police surveillance in other hospitals too. He directed the officials concerned to ensure a safe environment for doctors and medical staff at the hospitals.
This apart, an alert system will be established in all hospitals, said the CM. The police and health departments will conduct security audits in all hospitals every six months. The district collectors will oversee the audits.
The meeting also explored the possibility of appointing two doctors in casualty wings at night.
At the meeting, the CM stressed on making extra security arrangements while bringing an accused or people with a history of violence to hospitals for various purposes. He also stressed on reducing crowd inside hospitals and on their premises.