Maharashtra forming expert cell to protect doctors against complaints by patients' kin: Govt tells HC

The Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that it was in the process of constituting a special cell to protect doctors against unwarranted police complaints and FIRs filed by kin of patientsState Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni that the cell will comprise experts from the medical field senior police officers and other stakeholdersThe expert cell will examine complaints made of medical negligence against doctors and hospitals he saidOnly if the complaints seem prima facie genuine and merit registration of a case will the police station concerned register an FIR Kumbhakoni saidThe complaints made by doctors against members of the public for vandalising hospital property and attacking doctors can be dealt with with the existing provisions of the Indian Penal Code he saidFor complaints of negligence made by patients and their families against doctors this cell will check if an FIR needs to be registered immediately The experts will see if a case of negligence is possible and an FIR will be filed only after that he saidAlso read lsquoDiscontinue practicersquo SC takes note of Maha moving people from mental health institutes to homes for beggarsKumbhakoni said the expert cell will be finalised by next weekThe bench accepted the statement and suggested that the state considers including IPS officers who also hold MBBS degrees in the cellChief Justice Datta said West Bengal had a similar committee comprising nine members and included IPS officers who also had MBBS degreesThe court said the state of West Bengal had a separate law to protect doctors from assault by disgruntled kin of patients and all other aspects concerning doctors and hospitalsThe Maharashtra government could draw inspiration from such legislation and formulate one of its own or amend the existing state laws on the subject the HC saidThe court was hearing a public interest litigation PIL filed by one Dr Rajeev Joshi seeking judicial intervention to curb violence against healthcare professionalsAs per the PIL Maharashtra witnesses maximum number of such instances of violenceDr Joshi also claimed in his plea that the Maharashtra government had failed to implement the existing legal provisions including the Maharashtra MedicareService Persons and Medicare Institutions Prevention of violence and damage or loss of property Act 2010 to curb such instancesIn June this year during a hearing on the PIL the HC had suggested that the state constitute such a cellA doctor representing the Indian Medical Association IMA who was also present in the June hearing via video conferencing had told the HC that doctors were being attacked unnecessarilyHe had said that while doctors stuck to the protocol as much as possible the administration of a particular drug or a certain dose depended on the condition of a particular patient his or her comorbidities or response to the line of treatment Sometimes doctors had to prescribe alternate drugs due to unavailability of those mentioned in the protocol he saidThe HC had said that doctors already overworked due to the Covid19 pandemic must not have to face such harassment or spend any time giving explanations to policeThe court had directed the Maharashtra Advocate General for assistance on the existing laws over the issueThe HC will continue the hearing next weekThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever