GUWAHATI, June 17: Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to specify within two weeks the measures taken or proposed to be taken by it to ensure attacks on medical workers “do not happen in future.”
The High Court’s directive came after it took note of the alleged brutal attack on frontline medical workers by attendants of a COVID patient and group of persons at Udali Model Hospital in Hojai district of central Assam on June 1, 2021.
Advocate general of the state, D. Saikia, in his submission to the court stated that as far as the incident of Udali was concerned, 24 persons have been arrested within 24 hours and are currently lodged in jail.
The due process of law is being followed as far as this incident is concerned, Saikia stated.
“Moreover, the government itself is conscious about the care it has to give to its doctors and paramedics and it is open for any suggestions and guidelines in this regard,” the advocate general submitted before the court.
The Bench of Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak thereafter sought a detailed reply from the government within two weeks with regard to the measures taken by the government or the measures it proposes to take to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future and that with immediate effect it should be ensured that no weapon/firearms are allowed to be taken inside a hospital.
The bench also stated that a proper notice of warning has to be given to every hospital and medical college about the consequences to be followed in law if Medicare Service Persons, which include doctors, nurses, paramedical, medical students, nursing students and any other worker employed and working in Medicare Service Institutions [as defined under Assam Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2011], are manhandled or attacked.
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