Plea In P&H High Court Seeking Protection Of Frontline Health Care Workers & Ensuring Legal Immunity Against Civil/Criminal Prosecution

Stressing that there is a need to protect the medical practitioners from frivolous and unjust prosecution, a Public Interest Litigation petition has moved Punjab & Haryana High Court seeking legal immunity against Civil/Criminal Prosecution for Medical practitioner and final year medical students.

The PIL has been moved by one Ambika Yadav through Advocate Vipul Sachdeva and it has highlighted that frontline health workers should not be subjected to any financial and personal cost amid COVID.

"That the services of the medical professionals health workers and other related staffs are worthy of commendation can also on the other hand, notice rising instances of mishandling of medical staffs by relatives of the patients or civil and criminal liability slapped on doctors and hospitals in the wake of unavoidable circumstances," states the plea.

The PIL has averred that during the pandemic there have been suggestions that medical practitioners should be temporarily absolved from medical negligence view of the trying conditions under which the doctors are working.

The petition suggests formulation of balanced regulations or set of guidelines by this court as custodian of fundamental rights which might work as a sovereign immunity for the class of medical practitioners-exclusively for covid times.

The plea submits,

"That there have been many accounted and uncounted incidents within the state of Haryanawherein the police have failed to safeguard the frontline medical staff and there have also been instances where the families of the covid patients have physically assaulted the doctors and other hospital staff Further angry mobs have also caused damage to the Hospital properties."

Even though the situation is so grave and is likely to deteriorate in the future, the plea states that it is incumbent upon the Court to step in and issue certain orders and directions so that the medical staff and hospitals are protected from any civil or criminal liability that may accrue against them.

Lastly, the plea avers that the state completely failed to perform its duties and this had led to the situation getting out of control Globally.

"India is now being seen as a nation that is not capable of coping up with the pandemic and as such the frontline workers in the state of Haryana are needed to be protected by way of giving them some special immunity in the present scenario," adds the plea.