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State laws to punish violence against doctors hardly matter when safety standards in hospitals are low, says Supreme Court
Supreme Court highlights the lack of basic facilities for medical professionals, especially when they are on night duty
A general view of the Supreme Court on August 20, 2024 in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said States, including West Bengal, have stringent laws to protect medical professionals from violence, but punishment alone does not deter crime whensafety standards in hospitals are chronically low.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud was suo motu hearing the case of the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor inside the seminar room of Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
Watch: Kolkata rape and murder case: What the Supreme Court said
The court, in a 16-page order, said several States, including Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, have enacted legislation to protect healthcare service professionals from violence and damage to property. Under these State laws, the offence is non-bailable and punishable with three years of imprisonment.
“However, these enactments do not address the institutional and systemic causes that underlie the problem. An enhanced punishment without improving institutional safety standards falls short of addressing the problem effectively,” the Bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted.
The court listed the ground realites faced by medical professionals at work. These include a lack of adequate resting places during night duty.
“More often, doctors rest in the patients’ room or in available public spaces. Duty rooms are scant. Separate duty rooms for male and female medical professionals are conspicuous by their absence in most healthcare establishments,” the order said.
‘Fear of retribution’
Interns, residents and senior residents are not provided even basic needs of sanitation, nutrition and hygiene. The fear of retribution prevents most healthcare professionals from questioning the absence of facilities for their basic well-being, the court said.
Lack of security in medical care units are the norm rather than the exception. More often than not, medical professionals, including young resident doctors, interns and nurses, are left to handle “unruly” attendants of patients. Patients and their attendants have unrestricted access to all places within a hospital, including Intensive Care Units and doctors’ resting rooms, the court said.
Doctors and nurses who have to travel to and from the hospital are not provided transport facilities by the institution. There are no CCTV cameras or screening for arms and weapons at the entrance of hospitals.
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