Amendment to the act through Ordinance Epidemic Disease Act of 1897

 

President Ram Nath Kovind, on Wednesday, 22 April 2020 signed an ordinance to bring into effect the measures introduced by the Central government earlier in the day to protect doctors and health workers against violent attacks.

1.       The Centre introduced the ordinance to punish violent attacks on health workers, the sentence for which will carry imprisonment from 6 months to 7 years on being found guilty. The government amended the Epidemic Disease Act of 1897,

2.       Assaults on healthcare workers will now be considered as a cognizable and non-bailable offence, the probe for which will need to be completed within 30 days under the supervision of a senior inspector. The judicial process and the verdict would also arrive within a year.

3.       If convicted, the accused can be sentenced from 3 months to 5 years in prison and penalised from Rs 50,000 up to Rs 2 lakh based on the gravity of offense. In case of grievous injuries, the accused can be sentenced from 6 months to 7 years and they can be penalised from Rs 1 Lakh to Rs 5 lakhs in fine.

4.       In addition, if any damage is done to the vehicles or clinics of healthcare workers, then a compensation amounting to twice the market value of the damaged property will be taken from the accused.

5.       This will be an additional other than provisions already present under other Acts like IPC, NSA, and Disaster Management Act among others.

6.       The amended law will also be invoked if healthcare personnel face harassment from their landlords or neighbours over suspicion that they may carry the coronavirus infection due to the nature of their work,

7.       The Indian Medical Association (IMA) and other medical professionals' body on Wednesday hailed the government's decision to make violence against healthcare personnel fighting coronavirus a non-bailable offence, with some demanding that this law should apply to any such attack even after the crisis blows over.

8.       The Home Ministry has directed the states and Union territories to ensure adequate police protection to doctors and medical staff going to hospitals or quarantine centres during the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said Saturday

9.       The government announced a financial package of Rs 15,000 crore to ramp up the overall healthcare infrastructure in tackling the coronavirus pandemic

 

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