The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday demanded the Centre to enact a strong and effective law to safeguard the healthcare professionals in the country. In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the doctors' body noted that there were many incidents of healthcare violence taking place across the country.
“The incidents of healthcare violence have increased over the years and have become widespread, and the dreaded entity poses to be a threat to the medical practice,” the IMA said.
The IMA letter came a day after a doctor in Assam was brutally assaulted by the relatives of a COVID-19 patient who died at a hospital in Nagaon. Dr Seuj Senapati sustained serious injury and has been admitted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital.
“Doctors and healthcare staff are finding it difficult to work under the stress of violence. Healthcare violence has become an alarming phenomenon across the country. The real size of the problem is largely unknown and recent information shows that the current knowledge is only the tip of the iceberg,” the IMA said.
It said India needed a comprehensive, uniform and effective law against the healthcare violence and demanded that strong action be taken against the culprits behind the attack on Assam doctor.
