The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi doctors seek ordinance

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Thursday, Dec 20, 2007
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Delhi doctors seek ordinance

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Andhra Cabinet earlier this week approved an Ordinance to protect its doctors and nurses
Need to ensure that doctors are allowed to work in a safe and stress-free environment: DMA

NEW DELHI: Doctors in the Capital have demanded that the Delhi Government, like its Andhra Pradesh counterpart, bring in an Ordinance to protect doctors against frequent incidents of attacks by relatives of patients.

The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet earlier this week approved an Ordinance to protect its doctors, nurses and para-medical staff not only in government but also private hospitals, making any attacks by the relatives of patients a punishable offence.

The Ordinance, the first of the kind in the country, states that attacks on doctors by any person would be considered a cognizable and non-bailable offence punishable with a three-year jail term and the offender would have to pay for property damages recoverable under the Revenue Recovery Act.

Stating that doctors in the Capital, especially in the government sector, were often subjected to the fury of the patient’s relatives and that there had been several cases of resident doctors being beaten up despite the presence of security guards provided by the hospital, former Delhi Medical Association president Anil Bansal said: “We need to ensure that doctors are allowed to work in a safe and stress-free environment. The demand for additional security in Delhi Government hospitals has been a longstanding one and despite several assurances by the Government the ground realities remain the same. The Andhra Pradesh Government’s initiative has shown the way to the state governments across the country and they need to learn their lessons from it.”

Dr. Bansal said while the issue remains as one of the top agenda of the DMA, little progress has been made on the front.

All-India Institute of Medical Sciences Resident Doctors’ Association president Kumar Harsh said: “Doctors in the Capital should be given some kind of protection when on duty. The initiative by the Andhra Pradesh Government is a welcome step and we demand that the Ordinance be replicated across all States in the country.”

Doctors at Mulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital, which have seen several incidents of doctors being attacked by relatives of patients, have welcomed the move. “There has been a general fall in the morale of doctors in the city after several incidents of relatives of patients beating them up. A similar Ordinance would work well for doctors in the Capital too,” said Jitender Singla, president of the LNJP Resident Doctors’ Association.

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