The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on September 02, 2019, has published a Draft Bill on the Health Service Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of violence and damage to property) Act, 2019 to prohibit violence against health service personnel and damage or loss to property of clinical establishments.
Highlights of the Draft Bill:
- The Act shall be applicable to every clinical establishment which are under the clinical establishment Act, 2010. The draft legislation proposes to make acts of violence against doctors, nurses, midwives, medical students, ambulance drivers and helpers a non-bailable offence.
- The Act also seeks to provide compensation for injury of these professionals as well as compensation for loss or damage to establishments including hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, sanatoriums, ambulances or even mobile units
- The Draft bill proposes imprisonment of between six months to three years , with fine of between Rs.50,000 to Rs.5 Lakh for whoever commits violence or abets violence against any health care personnel or causes damages to the clinical establishment.
- The draft Bill also differentiates between injuries and causing grievous hurt to a healthcare professional. The Bill proposes that anybody causing grievous hurt (as defined under Section 320 of Indian Penal Code) to a doctor or any other healthcare professional would be imprisoned for upto 10 years
- All offences under the draft Bill will be cognizable (i.e., a police officer can arrest without a warrant) and non-bailable. An aggrieved healthcare service professional can write a request to the person-in-charge of the clinical establishment to inform the police of an offence committed under the draft Bill. Further, any case registered under this Bill will be investigated by a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police
- This Bill is currently in the draft stage and has been released for comments by stakeholders and experts in the field.
Click here to read the notification: https://mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/Draft%20Bill.pdf
