A draft on central legislation, in quest to penalize those assaulting doctors and other healthcare professionals with sentence of up to 10 years and fine of Rs 2-10 lakh, has been stalled by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The proposed Bill, prepared at the request of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, was set to go the Union Cabinet shortly but the MHA has rejected it stating that no central legislation can be brought to protect the practitioners of one specific profession.

The Bill had been prepared due to increasing number of attacks on doctors in hospitals and the immediate trigger for the drafting the legislation was brutal assault on junior doctors in West Bengal in June this year. It had led to nationwide protests by medical professionals.

A senior official in the Health Ministry said that the Union Law Ministry had already given a go-ahead to the draft Bill but the MHA has red-signaled it and they will forced to junk it.

Sources in the Ministry also said that Vardhan was very eager on getting the Bill through and it was due to his intervention that it had got drafted within two months after holding inter-ministerial consultations and taking representations from doctors’ bodies.

Another official said that it was also put out in the public domain for feedback after receiving the Law Ministry’s approval. Therefore, they are more surprised at the strong objections by the MHA.

Apart from proposing strict legal provisions against the dangerous attack on doctors, the draft Bill had also said that those leading to violence or causing damage to the property of a healthcare facility can be imprisoned for six months to five years and fined between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh. Healthcare professionals would include doctors and para-medical staff, as well as medical students, diagnostic service providers in a health facility and ambulance drivers.

The Indian Medical Association, the largest organization of private doctors in the country has also expressed displeasure at the move warning that a fresh stir should be launched.

IMA president Santanu Sen who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, said that after much persuasion from their side if the draft legislation is stalled then they will not sit quiet.

Source: The New Indian Express