IMA Sets Five Recommendations for Doctors' Safety

After the brutal rape and killing of a postgraduate student at RG KAR Medical College and Hospital, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) made five demands, one of which was the creation of a central law for the safety of doctors.

The following are the demands of IMA :

The inability to recognize the violence against healthcare professionals at the policy level needs to change. The current 25 state laws would be strengthened by a Central Act that incorporates the 2023 revisions to the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 into the draft Hospital Protection Bill of 2019. Ordinance similar to the one during the COVID-19 epidemic is required.

Every hospital should follow the same security procedures as an airport. The first step is to designate hospitals as safe areas with required security privileges. CCTVs, the deployment of security guards, and manners can all be adhered to.

The victim worked a 36-hour shift, and the resident doctors' living and working arrangements need to be entirely revamped in light of the victim's lack of safe rest areas and adequate restrooms.

Prompt, thorough, and expert investigation of the crime to ensure justice is served. Determine who the hooligans of vandalism are and punish them with exemplary behavior. Given the extent of the cruelty, the grieving family should get appropriate and honorable reparation.

All modern medicine doctors in the country have been ordered by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to cease their services for a whole day.

This strike will start on Saturday, August 17, at 6 in the morning and last until Sunday, August 18, at 6 in the morning. According to an IMA press release, while emergency and trauma services will continue to be available, neither outpatient department (OPD) nor elective surgery services will be offered during this time. This withdrawal is being coordinated by the IMA, which is also "asking for the understanding and support of the nation in this struggle for justice for its doctors and daughters."

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Priyanka Pandey/MSM)