First meeting of NTF held on Doctors Safety Protocol

The National Task Force on protocol for the safety and security of healthcare professionals at the workplace met for the first time under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary on Tuesday. The members held an elaborate and detailed discussion on various issues and decided to hold wider consultations with stakeholders on the issue.

The Supreme court-appointed10-member task force was constituted after the apex court last week took suo motu cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

“A national portal has been created by the Health Ministry under the title ‘Suggestions to NTF’ for seeking suggestions from individuals and different stakeholders across the country”, said the Union Health Ministry officials. The suggestions of major stakeholders and those received on the portal will be collated by the ministry for further consideration of the NTF members.

The officials said, “Secretary (Health) along with NTF members will have wider consultations with various major stakeholders.” A meeting will be held on Wednesday through videoconference to discuss short-term measures for the security of medical professionals with state chief secretaries and DGPs which will be co-chaired by the Union home secretary and Union health secretary, added the officials.

The task force members informed in the meeting that they have been approached directly by various stakeholders and have individually received almost 300 to 400 suggestions. The states have also been requested to provide information on the security measures available in the medical institutions. A Google sheet has been shared with the states for this purpose.

The NTF will interact further with stakeholders such as the IMA and resident doctors associations concerned to know their viewpoints and hear them out besides reading the representations.

“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 as to have clarity on the issues that need prioritisation as well as implementation map and definite framework,” a source said.

The 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’.