Kolkata rape-murder case: Why doctors in India are in urgent need for a central protection law (2024)

Advertisem*nt

The brutal rape and murder of a young trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata has sparked demands for robust laws ensuring the safety of healthcare workers in India. The resident doctors’ association (RDA) of AIIMS on Sunday (August 18) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to enact a central law through an ordinance to protect healthcare workers and institutions in the country.

Bringing the PM’s attention to the “worrying rise in violence against doctors, healthcare workers, and medical institutions”, they requested his “support in ensuring the protection of these sacred spaces”.

This is not the first time that such a demand has been made. India has no central law that protects healthcare workers. Here’s why doctors are calling for one.

Violence against doctors

India does not have a central database on violence against healthcare professionals while on duty.

The brutal rape and murder in Kolkata has triggered widespread anger, with doctors demanding justice for the victim and better workplace conditions.

Amid protests over the Kolkata horror, reports surfaced of a woman resident doctor allegedly being assaulted by a patient and his relatives – all of whom were drunk – in Mumbai’s Sion Hospital in the wee hours of August 18.

Last year, Vandana Das, a junior doctor on duty in Kerala, was stabbed to death by an inebriated patient.

West Bengal witnessed a mass resignation of doctors in 2019 after a mob attacked a junior doctor.

As per a study by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), a national-level association of allopathic doctors, more than 75 per cent of doctors have faced some kind of violence in the workplace. The patient’s relatives were involved in most such incidents, reported the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

Why is there no central law?

In India, health and law and order are state subjects under the Constitution. Hence, the state government or Union Territory administration is responsible for preventing violence.

Several states have their own laws to provide safety to healthcare workers. However, as Hamad Bin Khalid, a senior Resident Doctor, the Department of Hospital Administration, AIIMS, New Delhi, wrote for Indian Express “the approach of individual states addressing this issue has led to a patchwork of laws that are often inconsistent and filled with loopholes.”

The Centre proposed the Health Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill in 2019, seeking recommendations and objections. However, the Home Ministry shelved the bill, expressing concerns that similar protections might be demanded by other professional communities.

In 2022, the ‘Prevention of Violence Against Healthcare Professionals and Clinical Establishments Bill, 2022’ was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Also known as the Central Protection Act for Doctors, the proposed legislation aimed to define violent acts against healthcare professionals and lay down punishment for such acts, as per a Hindustan Times (HT) report.

But the bill was not pursued as the then health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said most of its objectives were covered in the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance 2020.

ALSO READ:Kolkata rape-murder case: The many questions parents of the victim are now asking Mamata Banerjee

Why is a law needed?

Violence against healthcare workers in the workplace has existed in India for long. As DW mentioned, medical staff in government hospitals, especially junior doctors, interns, and final-year medical students, are most at risk of workplace violence.

In their letter to PM Modi, AIIMS RDA said that doctors are particularly vulnerable as they work in environments filled with life-and-death challenges.

Experts point to several factors that contribute to violence against healthcare professionals, including the “poorly funded” public health system in India. A lack of proper management owing to limited resources and staff, expensive healthcare costs, and increased stay at private hospitals, could lead to violent situations, reported DW.

“The violence is due to multiple factors. The most important is an overall loss of trust in the healthcare delivery system. Over-privatisation with major elements of secondary and tertiary care being provided by for-profit healthcare providers has led to escalating costs and significant out-of-pocket expenditures on healthcare,” Sumit Ray, a medical superintendent and critical care specialist at Holy Family hospital, told the German broadcaster last year.

According to Ray, many poor families are often forced to sell assets and borrow money for medical treatment. “This has led to significant indebtedness and when the outcome of the treatment is not what the family expects, it leads to violence. This is compounded by the fact that people don’t see a recourse through judicial intervention,” he said.

Amid theKolkata case, Dr Praveen Gupta, principal director and chief of neurology, Fortis Hospital, told The Hindu, “We have repeatedly requested a safe work environment. This incident is a wake-up call. Doctors, particularly junior doctors working night shifts, and nurses — whether female or male — are increasingly under threat, not just physically but mentally as well. There is growing concern about their safety, lives, and mental health.”

The IMA, in its list of demands to the Union government, has called for declaring healthcare centres as safe zones with mandatory security measures such as installing CCTVs and deploying security personnel. “The victim was on a 36-hour duty shift, and had no safe space to rest. The working and living conditions of resident doctors need a complete overhaul,” the association said.

After the Kolkata incident, the Centre has taken steps to enhance the security of healthcare workers in the workplace.

On August 16, the Union health ministry issued an order that “in the event of any violence against any healthcare worker while on duty, the head of the institution shall be responsible for filing an institutional FIR within a maximum of six hours of the incident.”

With inputs from agencies

Top Shows

Related Stories