The reaction came after the government approved an ordinance laying down stringent punishments for offences against healthcare workers.
Kerala Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan. (Facebook)
The Opposition UDF in Kerala, reacting to the approval of an ordinance to ensure protection to the health workers in the state, said making laws was not enough, and that doctors should be protected in real time.
The reaction came hours after the LDF government on Wednesday, 17 May, approved the ordinance laying down stringent punishments for offences against those working in health services.
The medical community, meanwhile, welcomed the ordinance but said that they would like to wait and see how it was going to be implemented.
The decision, taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, came in the wake of the brutal killing of Dr Vandana Das by a patient at a taluk hospital in the Kollam district last week.
Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly VD Satheesan said that someone who attacked a doctor or nurse or any other healthcare worker under the influence of drugs or alcohol — as has been the case many times — would not be concerned that there was a law in place.
“Making laws is not enough. They (doctors) should be protected. We need police officers to be there protecting the doctors, instead of running away. That is what happened recently. You saw them run away,” he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
“Even the Kerala High Court has said that the state and the police failed to protect the young doctor,” he said.
Satheesan said that providing stringent punishments was not going to act as a deterrent if the offences were bailable.
“You need to make the offences non-bailable as punishments would be given by courts only after a trial, which would take time,” he said.
So, releasing them on bail after arrest would not act as a deterrent no matter how stringent the punishment is, he added.
Meanwhile, various associations representing medical professionals and students welcomed the government’s move.
The Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) said it was good that the government had come out with the ordinance.
“We already had an Act to protect doctors and hospital properties from such attacks. So, how this new act is going to be executed is more important,” KGMOA president Dr Suresh TN said, with cautious optimism.
He added that there were other issues — such as a shortage of doctors to take care of patient rushes in government hospitals — which also required urgent intervention from the state administration.
House Surgeons’ Association president Dr Ananya Wilson praised the government’s initiative, saying the young doctors were waiting to see how it was going to be implemented.
The postgraduate students’ association also viewed the government’s move positively.
“We hope that this ordinance, with a stronger punishment for assaulters, would change the attitude of society towards the medical community and stop such assaults,” Dr Swathy S Krishna, joint secretary of the Kerala Medical postgraduate students association, said.
Under the ordinance, the protection would be extended to paramedical students as well.
Paramedical staff, security guards, managerial staff, ambulance drivers, helpers posted and working in healthcare institutions, and health workers notified in the official government gazette from time to time would also be included in the ordinance, the statement said.
Under the ordinance, anyone found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to any healthcare worker or professional would be punished with imprisonment ranging from one year to seven years and a fine between ₹1 lakh and ₹5 lakh.
The ordinance also provides that anyone who commits or attempts to commit or incites or inspires an act of violence against healthcare workers or those working in healthcare institutions shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than six months and up to five years and with a fine between ₹50,000 and ₹2 lakh.
The ordinance will now be sent for the approval of the Kerala Governor.
Dr Vandana Das, a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of the Kottayam district and the only child of her parents, was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
She was stabbed multiple times with a pair of surgical scissors by an alleged drug addict.
The accused, G Sandeep, is a school teacher by profession and is currently in police custody. He was brought to the hospital by police for the treatment of a leg injury.
He had dialled the emergency number 112 claiming his life was in danger.
When the local police found him, he was standing away from his home, surrounded by residents and his relatives and had a wound on his leg and a stick in his hand.
He was taken to the hospital accompanied by his brother-in-law and a local political party leader.
During the dressing of his wound, he got violent. He initially stabbed the politician and the police there and then repeatedly stabbed Das, who could not escape to safety.
Das, who sustained grievous injuries in the attack, died a few hours after the incident.
The government’s decision to issue the ordinance came hours after the Kerala High Court said that the incident had been an outcome of a “systemic failure”.
(With PTI inputs)
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