Medical Professionals' Safety: Meet The Members Of National Task Force Formed By Supreme Court

To address the systemic issues regarding the lack of safety for medical professionals, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (August 20) ordered the formation of a National Task Force to give recommendations on the modalities to be followed all over the country.

A  bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra passed the order in the suo motu case taken over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College Hospital, Kolkata.

The National Task Force (NTF) has to give recommendations on the modalities to be followed all over the country to ensure the safety of medical professionals

The following are the members of the National Task Force :

1. Surgeon Vice Admiral Arti Sarin AVSM, VSM, Director General Medical Services (Navy).

2. Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology & AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad.

3. Dr. M Srinivas, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences( AIIMS), Delhi.

4. Dr.Pratima Murthy, Director, NIMHANS, Bangalore.

5. Dr. Goverdhen Dutt Puri, Executive Director, AIIMS Jodhpur.

6. Dr.Saumitra Rawat, Chairperson, Institute of Surgical Gastroenterology & Member Board of Management, Gangaram Hospital, Delhi.

7. Prof.Anita Saxena, Vice Chancellor, Pandit DD Sharma Medical University, Rohtak

8. Dr.Pallavi Saple, Dean Grant Medical College Mumbai & Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai

9. Dr. Padma Srivastav, former professor, Neurology Dept, AIIMS Delhi and currently serving as Chairperson of Neurology, Paras Health.

The following officers will be ex-officio members of the NTF :

(a) The Cabinent Secretary to the Govt of India, (b)Home Secretary to the Govt of India, (c) Secy of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, (d) Chairperson of the National Medical Commission and (e) the President of the National Board of Examination.  

Mandate of the NTF

The NTF shall make recommendations pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of the medical professionals.

The NTF can categorize its action plans under two heads - (1) preventing violence including gender-based violence against medical professionals; (2) providing an enforceable national protocol for dignified and safe working conditions for interns, residents, senior residents, doctors, nurses and all medical professionals.

The Court clarified that the phrase 'medical professionals' includes doctors, students undergoing internship, residents doctors and senior resident doctors as well as nurses

NTF is entitled to make additional suggestions wherever appropriate. The NTF shall also suggest the appropriate timelines by which the recommendations are to be implemented based on facilities in the hospitals

NTF is required to consult all stakeholders bearing in mind the urgency and gravity of the situation.

NTF is required to submit an interim report within 3 weeks and a final report within 2 months from the date of this order.

The Union and the States are to collect data from hospitals on the following : (1) the number of security personnel employed at each hospital; (2) total resting rooms etc in the hospital; (3) information on whether all areas of the hospital are accessible to the general public; (4) baggage screening.

The Court flagged the following issues :

•  Medical professionals who are posted for night-duties are not provided adequate resting spaces. More often, doctors rest in the patients' room or in available public spaces. Duty rooms are scant. Separate duty rooms for male and female medical professionals are conspicuous by their absence in most health care establishments.
• Interns, residents and senior residents are made to perform thirty-six hour shifts in conditions where even basic needs of sanitation, nutrition, hygiene and rest are lacking. There is an absence of uniformity in terms of a standard national protocol. The fear of retribution prevents most health care professionals from questioning the absence of facilities for basic well-being;
• Lack of security personnel in medical care units is more of a norm than an exception. More often than not, medical professionals, which includes young resident doctors, interns and nurses are left to handle unruly attenders. Open access to healthcare facilities leaves medical professionals vulnerable to undesirable elements;
•  Medical care facilities do not have sufficient toilet. Most often there is only one common toilet for medical professionals in one department;
• The hostels or places of stay for medical professionals are situated far from the hospital. Doctors and nurses who have to travel to and from the hospital are not provided transport facilities by the institution. Even within the precincts of the sprawling spaces of public hospitals there is either inadequate or no transportation facilities for the safe commute of professionals;
• There is an absence or lack of properly functioning CCTV cameras to monitor ingress and egress to the hospital and to control access to sensitive areas.
• The patients and their attenders have unrestricted access to all places within the hospital, including Intensive Care Units and the doctors resting rooms;
• Lack of screening for arms and weapons at the entrance of the hospitals;
• Dingy and ill-lit places within the hospitals;
• Medical professionals have to shoulder the responsibility of being both medical and 'emotional' caregivers to patients and their relatives. There are no supportive facilities and no training in communication skills; and
• Certain spaces within hospitals such as the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Wards are prone to a greater risk of violence because of the severity of medical conditions of patients in these department

Also from today's hearing - RG Kar Hospital Case | 'Can't Wait For Another Rape For Things To Change' : Supreme Court Forms Task Force On Doctors' Safety

Kolkata Doctor's Rape & Murder : Supreme Court Slams West Bengal Police, Asks CISF To Provide Security To RG Kar Hospital 

Click here to read the order