Got suggestions for Doctors' safety? Write to Supreme Court appointed National Task Force via this link.....
New Delhi: Seeking suggestions on the safety, working conditions, and well-being of medical professionals in medical colleges and hospitals, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has now set up a National Portal.
The suggestions submitted to the Health Ministry portal shall be combined for consideration of the National Task Force (NTF), set up by the Supreme Court over the rape and murder case at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the incident, which led to massive outrage in the medical community across the country, the Apex Court bench on August 20 had set up the NTF to prepare an action plan to ensure the safety of doctors in the country.
Where to Submit Suggestions to the National Task Force:
In order to make sure that the stakeholders and public in general can submit suggestions to the National Task Force on the safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other cognate matters, the Health Ministry has set up a portal that can be accessed using the following link:
https://serviceonline.gov.in/getServiceDesc.html?serviceId=29870002
In the application form, the interested persons will have to submit their name, date of birth, address, State, Country, District, Pin Code, Category, Designation, E-Mail ID, Mobile number, and suggestions for the NTF. The applicants can also upload relevant documents.
First Meeting of NTF:
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed NTF met for the first time on Tuesday and decided to hold wider consultations with stakeholders to identify issues that need prioritisation and draft a framework to address them.
The NTF members deliberated on some of the inputs and representations that it has received for improving the safety, security and working conditions of healthcare workers at medical establishments, sources informed PTI.
"It was decided that the NTF will interact further with stakeholders such as the IMA, resident doctors associations concerned because it is important to know their viewpoints and hear them out besides reading the representations. Also there is a limited timeline so the draft need to be readied as soon as possible," a source said.
"We have already deliberated on some of the inputs but we would expand those and hold deliberations further to make it more inclusive and comprehensive so that we have clarity on the issues that need prioritisation as well as implementation map and definite framework," added the source.
Health Ministry's term of reference for NTF:
The Union Health Ministry last Wednesday had issued an office memorandum mentioning the terms of reference for the NTF according to which it shall formulate effective recommendations to remedy the issues of concern pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other related matters.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the 15-member NTF, comprising nine senior doctors and five ex-officio government officials, was directed to prepare an action plan to prevent violence against medical professionals and provide safe working conditions for them.
The apex court had asked the NTF to formulate an action plan under two sub-heads — ‘Preventing violence, including gender-based violence, against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions’, and ‘Prevention of sexual violence against medical professionals’.
Under the 'prevention of violence against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions' to ensure due security in medical establishments, there has to be training of departments and places within the hospital based on the degree of volatility and the possibility of violence, according to the terms of reference.
Areas such as the emergency rooms and the intensive care units are prone to a greater degree of violence and may possibly need additional security in place to deal with any untoward incident, it said.
The NTF will look into putting in place a baggage and person screening system at every entrance of a hospital to ensure that arms are not carried inside the medical establishment and also to prevent intoxicated persons from entering the premises of the medical establishment, unless they are patients.
As far as infrastructural development is concerned, there should be provision of separate resting rooms and duty rooms in each department for male and female doctors, and male and female nurses; and a gender-neutral common resting space.
The rooms must be well-ventilated, have sufficient bed spaces, and provide a facility for drinking water. Access to these rooms must be restricted through installation of security devices, the document said.
Besides, the NTF would also focus on adopting appropriate technological intervention to regulate access to critical and sensitive areas, including through use of biometric and facial recognition.
The terms of reference include ensuring adequate lighting at all places in a hospital and, if it is attached to a medical college, all places within the campus and installation of CCTV cameras at all the entrance and exit points of the hospital, and the corridors leading up to all patient rooms.
If the hostels or rooms of the medical professionals are away from the hospital, there should be provision of transport between 10 pm to 6 am to those who wish to travel to or from their place of stay to the hospital. There should be employment of social workers trained in grief and crisis counselling at all medical establishments.
Under the other sub-head for the prevention of sexual violence against medical professionals, the document underlined that the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 applies to hospitals and nursing homes (including private health providers). In terms of the provisions of the Act, an Internal Complaints Committee must be constituted in all hospitals and nursing homes.
The phrase 'medical professionals' encompasses every medical professional including doctors, medical students who are undergoing their compulsory rotating medical internship (CRMI) as a part of the MBBS course, resident doctors and senior resident doctors, and nurses (including those who are nursing interns), the document said.
The 10 members of the task force include Vice Admiral Arti Sarin, Director General (Medical Services), Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad, Dr M Srinivas, AIIMS-Delhi Director and Dr Pratima Murthy, Director, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru.
As per the latest media report by Live Mint, a second round of meeting for the NTF is scheduled for today to discuss short-term measures for the security of medical professionals working with State Governments. This meeting will be co-chaired by the Union Home Secretary and Health Secretary. The Daily has reported that the Ministry has directed the State Governments to provide information on the security measures available in medical institutions.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the NTF to submit an interim report within three weeks and the final report within two months.
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