The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Central government on a petition seeking enactment of a law against perpetrators indulging in violence against medical professionals.
A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana issued a notice to the incumbent government and asked it to file a detailed response on the plea filed by Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI).
Asserting that the violence against doctors has caused a lot of damage to the clinical establishments, the petitioner sought directions to the government to take immediate and necessary actions against those responsible.
This comes after a week after a 73-year-old doctor was beaten to death in Assam's Jorhat district by tea garden workers after one of their co-workers died during the treatment.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened in the country. In June earlier this year, a nationwide doctor's strike took place after a junior doctor at NRS hospital was assaulted by the family of a patient in Kolkata.
Following the uproar, the Union Health Ministry earlier this week sought suggestions from the public within 30 days on the draft legislation titled - The Health Services Personal and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of violence and damage to property) Bill, 2019.
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Under this, the ministry has proposed to put a person behind bars with a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment and Rs 10 lakh fine for assaulting a doctor or healthcare personnel.
The proposed legislation is being introduced to address the rise in instances of violence against healthcare service professionals and damage to the property of clinical establishments across the country.
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