IMA Urges PM Modi for Enhanced Security in Hospitals Following RG Kar Medical College Tragedy
Indian Medical Association, IMA has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over RG Kar Medical College and Hospital case demanding the security of doctors and speedy justice in the matter.
The Association in its letter also demanded that the security protocol of all hospitals should be on the lines of the airport. It also demanded appropriate and dignified compensation to the bereaved family of the victim. In this letter they mentioned
Honourable Sir, An young post graduate of chest medicine was brutally raped and killed on duty in R G Kar Medica College, Kolkata in the early hours of 9th August 2024.
This has shocked the medical fraternity and the nation alike. On 15th August 2024, the hospital was vandalized by a large crowd which destroyed various sections of the hospital including the area where the victim was found. Doctors especially women are vulnerable to violence because of the nature of the profession. It is for the authorities to provide for the safety of doctors inside hospitals and campuses.
The RG Kar, Kolkata incident has brought to fore the two dimensions of violence in the hospital: A crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of safe spaces for women and the hooliganism that is unleashed due to lack of an organised security protocol.
The crime and the vandalism have shocked the conscience of the nation. Doctors across the country have withdrawn non-essential services today and are providing only emergency and causality services.
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 legislations.
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.
Indian Medical Association, #IMA has written a letter to Prime Minister #NarendraModi over RG Kar Medical College and Hospital case demanding the security of doctors and speedy justice in the matter.
The Association in its letter also demanded that the security protocol of all… pic.twitter.com/xFH8idpIW7
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) August 17, 2024
We appreciate your remarks about the safety of women in your Independence Day address. We appeal to you for your benign intervention at this stage. This will give confidence to not only women doctors but also to every woman in workplace.
60% of Indian doctors are women. This percentage is as high as 68% in Dental profesion, 75% in Physiotherapy and 85% in Nursing. All Healthcare professionals deserve peaceful ambience, safety and security at workplace. We are appealing for your benign intervention to ensure appropriate measures to meet our demands.
Source: All India radio News
