Govt naivety leaves medical staff exposed to mob fury
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 31 2014 :
Even though many other States have already enacted laws to protect medical staff including doctors when they are targeted by pa-tient parties in the event of un- expected death of patients in hospitals and medical centres, the Government of Manipur is yet to consider enacting any such law.
There have been many instances of patients dying un- expectedly during/before/after surgical operations which often invoked violent reactions from patient parties.
Such violent reactions are not something peculiar to Ma-nipur.
Such incidents happen in other States too.
Nevertheless, there is the Negligence Act under which legal actions can be initiated against doctors or medical staff in case patients they attended to died because of their negligence, informed a source.
When patient parties unleashed violence after the patients have died unexpectedly, doctors and medical staff get demoralized.
Overlooking the fact there is a law under which legal ac-tions can be initiated against doctors and health care staff, patients, often driven by momentary anger, take recourse to violence, sometime vandalising hospital properties.
As already implemented in other States, there is growing need to enact the Manipur Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act.
Many medical Pro- fessors have started proposing the Government to enact such a legislation.
Similar laws have been al-ready enacted in the States of Assam, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odissa, West Bengal and Chandigarh.
The State of Tripura is in the process of enacting such a law and a Bill has been alrea-dy tabled in the State Assembly.
Many other States are also in the process of enacting similar legislations, said the source.
Once such an Act has been enacted, violence committed against doctors and medical staff would be treated as cognizable and non-bailable.
The offenders may be imprisoned from three years to ten year.
In case of vandalising hospital properties, appropriate fines may be imposed against the culprits, added the source.