By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Orissa Friday planned to bring in a new law to check increasing attacks on doctors and damage to private and government hospitals in the state, an official here said Friday.
“The state cabinet headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday approved the proposed bill on security to doctors,” a senior official of the state health department told IANS.
“The bill will be introduced in the assembly during the winter session starting Nov 26,” he said.
The new legislation will provide more security exclusively to doctors and hospitals.
Under the proposed law, any person or a group of persons attacking a registered medical practitioner or damaging properties in government and private hospitals will be liable to be punished.
It provides for maximum punishment of three years’ imprisonment and Rs.50.000 in fine. The attackers will also be asked to pay more than the amount of damage they have caused.
Doctors in the state were demanding such a law over the past one year after frequent attacks on them and damage to properties in both private and government hospitals.