Hospitals Across The Country Should Become ‘safe Zones’, IMA Wrote To JP Nadda, Putting Forward Key Demands.

Nationwide protests by doctors.

Nationwide protests continued on Monday demanding speedy punishment for the accused in the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) also supported the doctors’ strike. He also wrote to Union Health Minister JP Nadda seeking an appointment and presented his demands.

The IMA has said in the letter that on behalf of the medical profession in the country we seek an appointment to meet you (the Union Health Minister) personally. Doctors in this country have been victims of violence against them for the last few decades. This has created an atmosphere of fear and repression in the medical world.

Major demands to the Minister of Health

• Hospitals across the country should be declared safe zones.
• All major government hospitals should have police camps and adequate security.
• Similar security arrangements should be made mandatory in large private hospitals as well.
• CCTV cameras should be made mandatory in sensitive places.
• 25 states have laws against assaulting doctors and hospitals. They are mostly ineffective on the ground and do not serve the purpose of prevention.

IMA’s demands to West Bengal Govt

• The case should be investigated impartially and thoroughly and the culprits should be punished severely.
• A detailed examination of the conditions enabling the crime.
• Urgent measures to improve the safety of doctors, especially women, at work.

Demand for a central law on violence

Let us tell you that IMA has written in its letter that it has given two days ultimatum to the government on these demands. The IMA headquarters is in consultation with the state branches to take further action in this regard. In a letter to the health minister, the IMA said, “We present to you the demand for safe zones, prescribed security measures and a central law on violence as a preventive measure.” We hope that you will consider our demands favorably considering the deteriorating ground conditions.