Face of Nation : The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a petition seeking direction for safety and security of doctors in government hospitals across the country.
“Having heard counsel for the petitioner and on perusing the relevant material, we are not inclined to entertain the present writ petition and the same is accordingly dismissed. Pending interlocutory applications, if any, shall stand disposed of,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta said.
The plea was filed last month by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava in the wake of protests by doctors in West Bengal against assault on their colleagues, allegedly by the relatives of a patient, who died on June 10 at a Kolkata hospital.
The apex court said the petitioner has made some interesting averments in the plea that as per the study conducted by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), more than 75% of doctors across the country have faced some form of violence and 50% violent incidents took place in the Intensive Care Unit of hospitals but “we are not inclined to entertain it”. The petition had also sought directions to Union ministries of home affairs and health and West Bengal to depute government-appointed security personnel at all state-run hospitals to ensure safety and security of doctors.
