The Centre on Saturday asked states union territories to provide security to doctors and other medical staff involved in coronavirus care in hospitals and the quarantine facilities.
“Ministry of Home Affairs in a letter today requested states/UTs to provide police security to doctors and other medical staff, as needed, in the hospitals and the quarantine facilities where they are working,” Punya Salila Srivastava, joint secretary in the Union home of ministry at the daily briefing.
The home ministry’s letter to states and union territories comes a day after the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) wrote to home minister Amit Shah demanding that assaults on doctors be treated as non-bailable offence and asking the Centre brings in a law for the protection of the medical fraternity amid rising incidents of violence at a time when they are in the frontline of the fight against Covid-19.
Complainants of harassment of doctors and nurses, particularly those involved in coronavirus care have been rising. Many medical professionals say they have been harassed by landlords and fellow residents in different parts of the country amid fears that they could transmit coronavirus.
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned people against misbehaving with doctors and nurses.
A day before that, the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) of Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had written to Shah about discrimination doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers involved in Covid-19 care were facing with landlords asking them to vacate their rented homes
The harassment of doctors and nurses has spiked after the country last month in response to Prime Minister Modi’s call had applauded all those including medical professionals involved in the fight against coronavirus.
