Safety of Healthcare Professionals: NTF Meets for First Time, to Hold Wider Consultations

New Delhi: The Supreme Court-appointed panel to formulate a protocol for the safety and security of healthcare professionals met for the first time on Tuesday and decided to hold wider consultations with stakeholders to identify issues that need prioritisation and draft a framework to address them.

The 10-member National Task Force (NTF) was constituted after the apex court last week took suo motu cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata which sparked nationwide protests.

The NTF members deliberated on some of the inputs and representations that it has received for improving the safety, security and working conditions of healthcare workers at medical establishments, sources said.

"It was decided that the NTF will interact further with stakeholders such as the IMA, resident doctors associations concerned because it is important to know their viewpoints and hear them out besides reading the representations. Also there is a limited timeline so the draft need to be readied as soon as possible," a source said. "We have already deliberated on some of the inputs but we would expand those and hold deliberations further to make it more inclusive and comprehensive so that we have clarity on the issues that need prioritisation as well as implementation map and definite framework," the source added.

Besides, it was also decided that the Union Health Ministry will start a portal where all stakeholders can give their inputs and views on the issue.

The Union Health Ministry last Wednesday had issued an office memorandum mentioning the terms of reference for the NTF according to which it shall formulate effective recommendations to remedy the issues of concern pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other related matters.

The apex court had asked the NTF to formulate an action plan under two sub-heads -- 'Preventing violence, including gender-based violence, against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions', and 'Prevention of sexual violence against medical professionals'.

Under the 'prevention of violence against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions' to ensure due security in medical establishments, there has to be training of departments and places within the hospital based on the degree of volatility and the possibility of violence, according to the terms of reference.

Areas such as the emergency rooms and the intensive care units are prone to a greater degree of violence and may possibly need additional security in place to deal with any untoward incident, it said.

The NTF will look into putting in place a baggage and person screening system at every entrance of a hospital to ensure that arms are not carried inside the medical establishment and also to prevent intoxicated persons from entering the premises of the medical establishment, unless they are patients.

As far as infrastructural development is concerned, there should be provision of separate resting rooms and duty rooms in each department for male and female doctors, and male and female nurses; and a gender-neutral common resting space.

The rooms must be well-ventilated, have sufficient bed spaces, and provide a facility for drinking water. Access to these rooms must be restricted through installation of security devices, the document said.

Besides, the NTF would also focus on adopting appropriate technological intervention to regulate access to critical and sensitive areas, including through use of biometric and facial recognition.

The terms of reference include ensuring adequate lighting at all places in a hospital and, if it is attached to a medical college, all places within the campus and installation of CCTV cameras at all the entrance and exit points of the hospital, and the corridors leading up to all patient rooms.

If the hostels or rooms of the medical professionals are away from the hospital, there should be provision of transport between 10 pm to 6 am to those who wish to travel to or from their place of stay to the hospital.

There should be employment of social workers trained in grief and crisis counselling at all medical establishments.

Under the other sub-head for the prevention of sexual violence against medical professionals, the document underlined that the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 applies to hospitals and nursing homes (including private health providers). In terms of the provisions of the Act, an Internal Complaints Committee must be constituted in all hospitals and nursing homes.

The phrase 'medical professionals' encompasses every medical professional including doctors, medical students who are undergoing their compulsory rotating medical internship (CRMI) as a part of the MBBS course, resident doctors and senior resident doctors, and nurses (including those who are nursing interns), the document said.

The 10 members of the task force include Vice Admiral Arti Sarin, Director General (Medical Services), Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad, Dr M Srinivas, AIIMS-Delhi Director and Dr Pratima Murthy, Director, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru.