Shut down hospitals if you can’t protect doctors: HC to Kerala | India News

KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Wednesday slammed the state government and the police for their inability to protect a 23-year-old doctor who was killed at a taluk hospital in Kottarakkara area of Kollam district by a man she was treating, saying it was a “complete breakdown of the protectional system”.
A special bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and Kauser Edappagath directed that the CCTV footage of the rooms or places in the taluk hospital where the incident took place be preserved. It made the superintendent of the hospital personally responsible for the task.

The court also directed the First Class Judicial Magistrate of Kottarakkara to visit the hospital and carry out a physical inspection of the crime scene and submit a report by Thursday.
It also held that all of its past orders and the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2012 shall apply in full force to every medical intern, house surgeon and postgraduate student, and others engaged in the health science education field.
The court also ordered the state police chief to be present online on Thursday and also submit a report regarding the “ghastly” incident which “snuffed” the life of a bright doctor, Dr Vandana Das. The bench took up the issue of the doctor’s killing on an application moved by a medical institution seeking the same protection for medical interns, house surgeons and postgraduate students as provided under the law to doctors.
The application was moved in a pending petition before the high court on the issue of safety of doctors and other healthcare professionals. During the over-an-hour-long hearing in the matter, the court slammed the state government, saying that if it could not protect its own doctors, then it should shut down its hospitals.