New government policy to ensure workplace safety of doctors in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Amid the nationwide outrage over alleged rape and murder of an on-duty junior doctor in West Bengal, the Odisha government has formulated a new policy for providing a safe workplace environment for doctors, students and medicare persons in healthcare and health education institutions.

As per the new policy, health institutions will have to establish a clear incident reporting process, ensure confidentiality and prompt action on reported incidents besides provisioning escort services or safe transportation options for women doctors, employees and students during night shifts.

Any incident of violence against medical students would be promptly investigated by the college management and a complaint be lodged with the police within six hours by the head of the institution. He or she should also send a detailed action taken report to the National Medical Commission (NMC) within 48 hours of the incident.

The SP of the district concerned will take immediate and appropriate action as per law against miscreants in order to discourage people from such activities. The policy has stipulated to constitute an institutional monitoring committee to undertake monthly review of all the measures and take follow-up action. The committee will have representatives of doctors, faculty, paramedics, students and other stakeholders.