Describing the safety of doctors as a matter of national interest, the Supreme Court, after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, constituted a 10-member task force to develop a national protocol to ensure safety and facilities for doctors and health professionals. The task force will submit its interim report within three weeks and a final report within two months.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said that the lack of institutional safety norms in medical establishments against both violence against medical professionals and sexual violence is a matter of serious concern. There are laws to protect medical professionals but they do not address systemic issues.
The 10 members of the task force constituted by the Supreme Court include Vice Admiral Aarti Sarin, Director General of Medical Services (Navy), Dr Nageshwar Reddy, Managing Director of Asian Institute of National Gastroenterology and AIG Hospitals, Dr M Srinivas, Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, Dr Pratima Murthy of NIMHANS, Bengaluru, Dr Goverdhan Dutt Puri, Executive Director of AIIMS Jodhpur and Dr Saumitra Rawat, member of the Board of Management of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.
Its other members include Professor Anita Saxena, Vice Chancellor of Pandit BD Sharma Medical University, Rohtak, Dr Pallavi Saple, Dean of Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals and Dr Padma Srivastava, former Professor of Department of Neurology, AIIMS Delhi.
The bench said that the Cabinet Secretary and Home Secretary of the Union Government, Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Chairman of the National Medical Commission and Chairman of the National Board of Examinations National There will be ex-officio members of the task force.
The court has asked the National Task Force (NTF) to prepare an action plan under two headings - preventing all forms of violence, including gender-based violence, against medical professionals and creating a national protocol for respectful and safe working conditions for trainees, residents, senior residents, doctors, nurses and all medical professionals.
