Even as protests by doctors continue across India, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition seeking the safety and security to government doctors across the country. A vacation judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant will hear the plea, filed in the wake of the government doctor in Kolkata, on Tuesday, June 18.
West Bengal advocate Alakh Alok Shrivatsava has sought a direction from the apex court to the Centre to deploy uniformed security personnel at every government hospital to ensure the safety of doctors, reports Bar and Bench. The petition seeks that the Centre form guidelines for the safety of doctors that are implemented ‘in letter and in spirit.’
The petition has also sought a direction to the West Bengal government to take stringent action against those who assaulted the doctor at NRS Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata last week.
Petitioner Srivastava claimed that it was his public duty to move the apex court and seek its urgent intervention to address issues which led to the strike and protests by doctors of various medical colleges and hospitals across India.
Healthcare services in many places across the country have been hit as doctors have been boycotting work in solidarity of the doctors in West Bengal who have been demanding safety at their places of work. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had announced a strike on June 17 with the withdrawal of non-essential health services across the country. IMA members had stated that they will also be staging a dharna at its headquarters in New Delhi.
The protests broke out after a junior doctor at the NRS Hospital in Kolkata was attacked on June 10 by relatives of a patient who had died at the hospital, allegedly due to medical negligence. On June 14, doctors across the country boycotted work as a sign of solidarity with their counterparts in West Bengal.
The Centre has also opened a front against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has pinned the blame on doctors for going on strike in the state. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said the government is committed to ensuring the safety of the doctors.