Plea in SC seeks guidelines for protection of doctors against physical assault over treatment

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A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking comprehensive guidelines for the protection of doctors who are being physically assaulted regularly on the issues relating to the treatment of patients.

The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Indian Medical Association (Dwarka) has also sought direction to the Centre and others for evolving a mechanism to compensate the family and dependents of doctors who lost their lives in the cause of public service.

Referring to a recent incident of the death of a doctor in Rajasthan, the plea has said the doctor had "fallen victim" to harassment allegedly through the relatives of patients.

"The instant public interest litigation under section 32 of the Constitution of India is necessitated on account of continuous assaults on treating doctors under the cover of medical negligence across the country on a regular basis," the plea, drawn by advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, said.

It said the incident in Rajasthan has stirred widespread protest across the country by the large number of doctors fearing for their lives and asking for protection from the government so that they are not harassed or tortured after treatment of patients.

It said the doctor in Rajasthan was "forced to commit suicide" on March 29.

The plea said the petitioner association has been continuously requesting the concerned authorities for the protection of treating doctors.

"It is further submitted that the doctors had played a pivotal role as corona warriors during widespread of deadly Covid-19 across the country and their humanitarian services have been acknowledged and recognized by all sections of society across the world," it said.

The petitioner association claimed that they are constrained to approach the apex court highlighting the non-application of mind on the part of the state police of Rajasthan where an FIR has been registered under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code against the doctor.

The plea has sought directions for constituting a CBI enquiry into the circumstances which led to the unfortunate death of a young doctor by committing suicide under mysterious conditions to find out the actual perpetrators of the incident.

"There is an urgent need for laying down comprehensive guidelines for immediate protection of treating doctors in a circumstance when there is an allegation of medical negligence on a doctor and the treating doctor is constantly being exposed to threats from the attendants of the patients as well as the local police," it said.

The petition has also sought comprehensive guidelines for the establishment of digitally equipped medico-legal cells in all police stations across the country to handle cases of medical negligence.

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