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Ordinance provides protection to medical professionals

CHENNAI: Any uncalled for attack on a doctor or a medical institution in the State will henceforth attract imprisonment of three to 10 years, according to an ordinance promulgated recently.

The ordinance, providing protection to medical professionals, is on the lines of a law enacted in Andhra Pradesh. Governor Surjit Singh Barnala gave his consent on Friday, Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam said here on Sunday.

The ordinance, a long-pending demand of doctors both in the private and the public sector, provides protection to all registered doctors, nurses, students of medicine and nursing and paramedical workers.

The Chief Minister considered the request at length and, after discussion, the ordinance was drafted.

Attacks on several hospitals and doctors were reported across the State in recent times, members of the Indian Medical Association said.

At the function to celebrate Doctors’ Day at Kilpauk Medical College, the Minister said doctors and nurses should counsel the patient’s family. Lack of communication between the patient’s family and healthcare providers made the family suspect their credibility, he said.

Mr. Panneerselvam urged medical students to focus on research and serve in government institutions. The taxpayers’ money was being used to provide subsidised education to them, he said. The government would also consider the demand from the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association to increase their salaries.

The programme was got up by the Tamil Nadu branch of the IMA to felicitate doctors who had served for several decades.

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