The government may consider introducing appropriate legal safeguards for healthcare workers, who at times face violence from relatives or attendants of patients, a parliamentary panel has said.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by BJP member Brij Lal, which examined the proposed three criminal laws, discussed a memoranda submitted by various medical associations requesting it to introduce provisions under Clause 115 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to penalise acts of violence against healthcare service personnel.
The committee, in its report, said it was submitted before the panel that unlike in any other professions, healthcare professionals are vulnerable to “violent attacks” by relatives of patients, in cases where patients die during treatment.