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On Saturday, 19 June, the Centre urged the chief secretaries and administrators of states and union territories to implement measures in order to check incidents of threat or assault on healthcare establishments and workers.
In a letter, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla mentioned that strict actions, such as registering institutional FIRs, should be taken against the people who attack healthcare workers and that such cases should be fast-tracked.
"You will agree that any incident of threat or assault on doctors or healthcare professionals may dampen their morale and create a sense of insecurity amongst them. This may adversely affect the healthcare response system," he wrote, ANI reported.
Further, he drew the attention towards previous advisories that suggested ways to check recurrence of such incidents. These measures include:
He also stated that states and union territories should keep a close watch on any objectionable content being shared on social media platforms that may “exacerbate such situations.”
During the pandemic, doctors have remained vulnerable not just to the virus but also to attacks from relatives of dying or deceased COVID patients.
Dr Seuj Kumar Senapati, posted at a COVID Care Centre (CCC) in Udali in Assam’s Hojai district, was brutally beaten and thrashed by utensils and brooms on 1 June, by a mob that included the family members of a deceased patient. The police had arrested 24 people in connection with the case by 2 June.
In another incident of attack on frontline workers, on 31 May, Dr Deepak was assaulted by four people, including a minor, in Karnataka’s Tarikere town in Chikkamagaluru district. The district Superintendent of Police MH Akshay had then said, “four people from the same taluka were arrested within 18 hours of the crime taking place.”
“Dr Deepak was treating a 6-year-old child, Bhuvan, for dengue. After the child developed complications, he was shifted to Shivamogga where he later died. Of the four held, one is the child's relative, the rest are friends,” he had said.
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