Home Secretary
Government of India
North Block, New Delhi
No. 11034/01/2021-IS-IV
19th June, 2021
Dear Chief Secretary,
I am writing in connection with security concerns relating to healthcare establishments and professionals. In this regard, I would like to draw your kind attention to our earlier advisories dated 27th April 2021 and 9th June 2021. You will agree that any incident of threat or assault on doctors or healthcare professionals may dampen their morale and create a sense of insecurity amongst them. This may adversely affect the healthcare response system.
2. In our advisories, various remedial measures were suggested to check recurrence of such incidents, including adequate security at healthcare facilities, especially at COVID-19 designated hospitals along with controlled and restricted access to the premises; facilitation centers at the entry point to provide information as well as sharing of authenticated information regarding medical resources with public through website, helpline, etc.; deployment of quick response police teams at vulnerable locations with effective communication/ security gadgets; effective local level medical intervention along with well equipped centralized control room for monitoring and quick response, etc.
3. In the present circumstances, it has become imperative that strict action be taken against those who assault healthcare professionals. Institutional Fl Rs should be registered against assaulters and such cases should be fast tracked. You may also like to invoke provisions of the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act, 2020, where applicable.
4. I would also like to reiterate that a close watch be kept on any objectionable content in social media which may exacerbate such situations. Concerted efforts should be made through posters in hospitals, social media, etc, to emphasize the valuable contribution being made by doctors and other healthcare personnel in the fight against COVID-19.
5. Further, 1 would request that States and Union Territories may take these measures on priority and proactively engage with members of medical fraternity to assuage their concerns.
With regards,
Yours sincerely
(Ajay Bhalla)
Chief Secretaries of all States
