New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday issued an office memorandum mentioning the Terms of Reference for the National Task Force (NTF) on the safety of doctors set up by the Supreme Court.
The apex court on Tuesday constituted the 10-member NTF to formulate a protocol for ensuring the safety and security of doctors in the wake of the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata.
According to saying it shall formulate effective recommendations to remedy the issues of concern pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other related matters.
According to the office memorandum, the task force will formulate effective recommendations to address issues pertaining to safety, working conditions and well-being of medical professionals and other related matters.
The apex court had asked the NTF to formulate an action plan under two sub-heads -- ‘Preventing violence, including gender-based violence, against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions’, and ‘Prevention of sexual violence against medical professionals’.
Under the ‘prevention of violence against medical professionals and providing safe working conditions’ to ensure due security in medical establishments, there has to be training of departments and places within the hospital based on the degree of volatility and the possibility of violence, according to the Terms of Reference (ToR).
Areas such as the emergency rooms and the intensive care units are prone to a greater degree of violence and may possibly need additional security in place to deal with any untoward incident, it said.
The NTF will look into putting in place a baggage and person screening system at every entrance of a hospital to ensure that arms are not carried inside the medical establishment and also to prevent intoxicated persons from entering the premises of the medical establishment, unless they are patients.
As far as infrastructural development is concerned, there should be provision of separate resting rooms and duty rooms in each department for male doctors and female doctors, and male nurses and female nurses; and a gender-neutral common resting space.
The rooms must be well-ventilated, have sufficient bed spaces, and provide a facility for drinking water. Access to these rooms
must be restricted through installation of security devices, the document said.
Besides, the NTF would also focus on adopting appropriate technological intervention to regulate access to critical and sensitive areas including through use of biometric and facial recognition.
The Terms of Reference include ensuring adequate lighting at all places in a hospital and, if it is attached to a medical college, all places within the campus and installation of CCTV cameras at all the entrance and exit points of the hospital, and the corridors leading up to all patient rooms.
If the hostels or rooms of the medical professionals are away from the hospital, there should be provision of transport between 10 pm to 6 am to those who wish to travel to or from their place of stay to the hospital.
There should be employment of social workers trained in grief and crisis counselling at all medical establishments.
Besides, the ToR calls for conducting workshops for all employees of a medical establishment, including doctors, nurses and helpers on handling grief and crisis and constitution of ‘Employees Safety Committees’ comprising doctors, interns, residents and nurses to conduct quarterly audits on institutional safety measures.
The NTF will also explore the possibility of establishing police posts in
medical facilities commensurate with the footfall, bed strength and facilities.
Under the other sub-head for the prevention of sexual violence against medical professionals, the document underlined that the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 applies to hospitals and nursing homes (including private health providers).