Govt brings in ordinance: The central government has brought an ordinance to end violence against health workers by amending the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, which will allow imprisonment from 6 months to 7 years for those found guilty.
As per the Epidemic disease attack, attacks on doctors, paramedic staff, and ASHA workers a non-bailable and cognizable offense punishable up to seven years in prison and fines of up to Rs 5 lakhs.
The police will investigate the case in one month and the case will be fast-tracked with the final judgment to come within a year.
The statement was released by the Union minister Prakash Javedakar addressing a press conference, where he stated that, the government would act “tough” against those who would found to be part of this crime.
He also added that the crimes against health workers had been made a “non-bailable offense” via the ordinance. Under the new law, investigation in such cases will be completed in a time-bound manner. “Such crime will now be cognizable and non-bailable. The investigation will be done in 30 days.
Apart from this, those who found to be vandalizing the private clinic or a car belonging to a doctor will be asked to pay twice the market value of these assets.
Home minister Amit Shah and health minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting with the IMA representatives today and assured them that attacks on doctors and paramedic staff will not be tolerated. They lauded their efforts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
The IMA had also threatened that it will observe April 23 as Black Day if the government doesn’t take action on protecting doctors through a central law.
Meanwhile, With 1,383 fresh coronavirus cases reported in India in the past 24 hours, the total number of cases in India has gone up to 19,984, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health. The death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 640 after 50 casualties were reported in 24 hours. And at present, there are 15,474 active coronavirus patients in the country. Health Ministry data showed that 3869 people who had been infected with coronavirus have recovered.
