A week after the Dausa doctor's death , a plea has been moved in Supreme Court seeking guidelines or policies in order to protect doctors in all states across India. Dr Archana Sharma had hanged herself last week after a murder case was registered against her on Monday night following protest by the family members of a woman who had died in her private hospital in Lalsot.
According to news agency ANI, the plea has been moved today in the apex court which seeks guidelines or policies to protect doctors in all states across the country.
The move of plea comes two days after he Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over incidents of harassment and violence against doctors.
The suicide of the lady doctor sent shock waves across the state and triggered protests even in the national capital - Delhi.
Requesting the PM for the implementation of a Central Act for Protection of Doctors, FORDA said, "Observing the alarming trends, we had submitted representations on multiple occasions requesting the implementation of a Central Act for Protection of Doctors as well as for setting up an Indian Medical Service (IMS) cadre to curb such incidents in the future. Unfortunately, there has been no positive response from the concerned authorities yet."
"The tragic incident of suicide by Archna Sharma in Dausa is one such incident wherein the doctor was harassed by local leaders and goons to an extent that she was compelled to take the extreme step. Subsequently, another incident of harassment by a bureaucrat was reported from Dehradun wherein Nidhi Uniyal resigned from her job at a government medical college," the letter said.
On Saturday, medical services across Rajasthan were crippled due to a strike by government and private hospitals.
"Our protest will continue till our demands are met. We are demanding arrest of the police officer responsible for lodging the case under section 302 of IPC against the doctor," Dr Ajay Chaudhary, president of All Rajasthan In-Service Doctors Association (ARISDA) said.
He said that the OPDs in all government hospitals across the state were not functional.
(With agency inputs)
