Draft bill proposing 10-year jail for hurting docs — Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi, Aug. 13 (PTI): A draft legislation seeking to punish people who assault on-duty doctors and other healthcare professionals by imprisoning them for up to 10 years, has been finalised and will be made public soon for feedback, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday.

Those “grievously hurting” doctors and other healthcare professionals in clinical establishments may face imprisonment between three and ten years and could fined between INR 2 to INR 10 lakh, officials sources said of the provisions in the draft bill.

The draft bill says those commissioning violence or causing damage to the property of a healthcare facility can be imprisoned for six months to five years and fined between INR 50,000 and INR five lakh, they said.

Healthcare professionals include doctors and para-medical staff and also medical students, diagnostic service providers in a health facility and ambulance drivers.

“The Central law, a long-standing demand of the medical fraternity, which seeks to prohibit violence against doctors and other healthcare service personnel and damage to property of clinical establishments has been finalised. We will soon put it in public domain for comments and feedback,” Vardhan said.

The draft bill also provisions for compensation which could be twice the market value of a property damaged and INR 1 lakh to INR 5 lakh for being assaulted or hurt, sources said.

In case of non-payment of compensation by a convict, the amount may be recovered as arrears of land revenue under the Revenue Recovery Act 1890, the sources said.