Thiruvananthapuram: A man was arrested by the police on Wednesday after he allegedly attacked two doctors who were attending him at the Government Medical College Hospital here. The arrested is Sudheer, a native of Balaramapuram in the district.
He was arrested after two doctors in the department of neurology complained that he attacked them while they were on duty in the evening.
The incident happened on the day when the Kerala government issued a notification for implementing the ordinance which aims to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals in the state. The Kerala Healthcare Service Workers and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Amendment Ordinance was introduced in the wake of the recent brutal murder of a young woman doctor while she was on duty.
The government issued the notification a day after Governor Arif Mohammed Khan signed the ordinance. With the notification, the ordinance has come into force in the state.
Under the ordinance, anyone found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to any healthcare worker or professional would be punished with imprisonment ranging from one year to seven years and a fine of Rs one lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
According to the ordinance, verbal abuse of hospital staff will invite three months of imprisonment or a fine of Rs 10000 or both. It will also be an offense to use words intended to be abusive or insulting. The notification says that the trial in such cases will be completed within one year. Each district will have a special court and a special prosecutor for the purpose.
The ordinance provides for strict punishment to those attacking workers in the health services sector in Kerala. The ordinance was approved on May 17 in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the wake of the brutal killing of Dr Vandana Das by a patient -- G Sandeep, a school teacher by profession – at Kottarakkara taluk hospital in Kollam district.
