IMA calls for central law to curb violence against healthcare workers after Kolkata incident

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Saturday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "benign intervention" to bring a central law to check violence against healthcare personnel and declare hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements.

These are among the demands made by the apex doctors' body in the backdrop of the alleged rape and murder of a medic at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata and the subsequent vandalism at the facility.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), which is observing a 24-hour nationwide withdrawal of non-emergency services from 6 am on Saturday, wrote to the prime minister, putting forward its five demands.

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IMA has put forward the following solutions and demands:

1. A Central Act incorporating the amendments of 2020 in the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 into the draft "The Healthcare Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property Bill 2019)" would strengthen the existing 25 state legislation

2. The security protocols of all hospitals should be no less than an airport. Declaring the hospitals as safe zones with mandatory security entitlements is the first step. CCTVs, deployment of security personnel and the protocols can follow.

3. The 36 hours duty shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces to rest and adequate rest rooms warrant thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of the resident doctors.

4. Meticulous and professional investigation of the crime in a timeframe and rendering of justice.

5. Appropriate and dignified compensation to the bereaved family commensurate with the cruelty inflicted.