Docs protest new law imposing jail time for negligence

Cooch Behar: Under the Central government’s new law, doctors will be jailed for up to two years if a patient dies due to negligence. As a result, doctors are forced to work in fear. In protest, junior doctors and students of Cooch Behar MJN Medical College demonstrated in front of the hospital on Monday afternoon. They demanded the repeal of this law.

Their protest lasted for about an hour and was called off after receiving assurances from the authorities.

Second-year student Kunal Som said: “The new law that the Central government has introduced essentially labels doctors as criminals. No doctor would ever intentionally cause the death of a patient. Doctors always strive to provide the best care possible. Today, we junior doctors and students organised a protest against this law. It is damaging the morale of doctors.

The Central government needs to reconsider this law, as it is creating a divide between doctors and patients. A doctor’s job is to heal patients and that is what they do.

While we have ended the protest for now, a larger movement will be organised against it in the coming days.”