Ranchi: The Jharkhand assembly did not pass the Jharkhand Medical Service, Medical Service Association (Prevention of Violence and Property Damage) Bill which was introduced in the house. It was the third time when the bill could not be passed.
The situation came after Chief Minister Hemant Soren asked Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto to send the bill to the select committee for proper study and give its opinion within 30 days after he noticed that as many as 30 proposals for amendment in the bill had come.
The bill was introduced to ensure security for doctors and para-medical staff in Jharkhand. The Jharkhand cabinet has approved the bill. The bill came under criticism and the opposition said that the bill does not provide any security to patients.
Ajsu legislator Lambodar Mahto criticized the bill demanding a Patient Protection Bill and explained how dangerous the bill could be in the state where people die in government hospitals due to negligence. BJP legislator Amar Kumar Bouri said there are several provisions to ensure security to all. In this situation, a special bill to give protection to a particular section is not advisable.
He said it often comes to the knowledge that doctors run around and beat relatives of a patient when they protest in case of the death of a patient due to negligence.
Another BJP legislator supported Bouri saying one can easily imagine the behavior of a high-handed doctor in the state where doctors like Dr O.P.Anand did not hesitate to misbehave with the health minister in his home constituency.