SC urges protesting medical community to resume work at earliest

New Delhi, Aug 20: The Supreme Court on Tuesday urged the doctors and medical professionals across the country, who are abstaining from work in protest of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, to resume work at the earliest. “Since this court is seized of the matter pertaining to the safety and well-being of all medical professionals at their workplaces, and the issue involving high national priority, we will request all the doctors, who are abstaining from work, to resume work at the earliest,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud. The Bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said that medical doctors and professionals stand assured that their concerns are receiving the highest attention from the Supreme Court. It said that concerns of the medical community are being portrayed before the apex court by a diverse range of counsels and abstention from work affects the segment of society which needs medical care the most. Terming the Kar Medical College incident “horrific” which raises “systemic issue of safety of doctors across the country”, it ordered the setting up of a national task force to suggest measures for safety of medical professionals across the country. The 3-judge Bench was hearing the suo moto case titled “Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, and related issues”. During the hearing, it said, “We earnestly appeal to all the doctors that we are here to ensure that their safety and protection is the matter of highest national concern. We feel this is not now a matter of a particular offence but something which affects the institution of healthcare pan India.” “We are deeply concerned with the fact that there is an absence of safe conditions of work for young doctors across the country, particularly, public hospitals,” CJI Chandrachud-led Bench added. The Supreme Court asked the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to file a status report detailing the status of investigation within two days as well as the state government to file a status report in relation to the incident of vandalisation inside the hospital premises. Further, it asked the West Bengal Police to not unleash peaceful medical community and civil society protesters. “People, whether they are doctors or civil societies or lawyers, who are protesting, so long as there is no act of destruction, let there not be the power of the state unleashed on peaceful protests. It is a time of national catharsis,” CJI Chandrachud said. –IANS pds/dpb