Vijayawada: The Indian Medical Association (IMA), AP branch, condemned the assault on doctors and the destruction of medical equipment at a private hospital in Vijayawada.
In a statement here on Saturday, the IMA said that assaulting doctors, destroying valuable equipment, trespassing into the ICU zone and threatening the health personnel in the hospital was an act of radical violence as it caused physical injuries and shattered the confidence of the doctors.
It said that though the AP Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2008 was being implemented, incidents of violence and vandalism against doctors, nurses and hospitals were increasing year by year due to failure to implement the act effectively by the police.
The IMA AP branch demanded the home and law ministries and the director general of police (DGP) initiate stern measures like the immediate arrest of culprits, issue of SOPs to all police station to prevent such violence against the medical fraternity and establish fast track courts to complete inquiry and declare all public and private hospitals as sensitive and safe zones and provide protection in the hospital areas.
IMA AP president Dr C. Srinivasa Raju said, “We strongly condemned the assault on doctors and appeal to the state government to initiate steps to curb them by punishing the culprits severely as per norms”.
