Hospitals must register FIR within 6 hours of assault on doctors: MoS Health tells Parliament
Doctor Assault
New Delhi: All medical institutions and government hospitals across the country have been directed to register an FIR within six hours of any incident involving an attack or assault on medical practitioners, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Anupriya Patel recently informed the Rajya Sabha.
Medical Dialogues has been extensively reporting on the increasing incidents of violence against medical professionals at various medical colleges and hospitals across the country. While in some cases, the accused have been apprehended and punished due to the immediate registering of FIRs, other cases have seen little progress with FIRs being registered late and not being registered at all in some instances.
Sharing information on the issue, MoS Health Anupriya Patel stated that data and details regarding attacks on medical professionals are not maintained centrally, as it falls under the purview of individual states.
"As per Constitutional provisions, ‘Health’ and ‘Law & Order’ are State subjects. Therefore, it is the primary responsibility of the concerned State/ Union Territory to take note of events and eventualities for taking appropriate action to prevent attack against medical practitioners in hospitals," she said in a written statement.
The Minister provided the information in response to a series of questions raised by Parliament member Shri Abdul Wahab, who sought to know whether attacks against medical practitioners in hospitals have increased, and what steps the Government has taken to enhance their safety and security.
In response, the minister said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has issued an advisory to all Central Government Hospitals/Institutes, All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and Medical Colleges to ensure the filing of FIRs within six hours of any such incident. MoHFW has also advised all States and Union Territories to take immediate measures to strengthen security and provide a safer working environment for medical professionals.
Taking cognizance of the alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India constituted a National Task Force (NTF) for formulating effective recommendations to remedy the issues of concern pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other cognate matters, said Patel. The NTF has already submitted its report to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
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