Chandigarh: This comes hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan interacted with doctors and senior representatives of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), through a video conference, in New Delhi.
Epidemics Diseases Act, 1897 to make the attacks on healthcare workers a cognisable and non-bailable offence, under which a violator may be awarded with a jail term of three months to seven years with a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh.
Home Minister Amit Shah interacted with doctors from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) via video-conference and assured them of their safety. The IMA, which had planned a candle-light vigil at 9 pm today to urge the government to enact a law against healthcare violence, withdrew the protest after Shah said the government was with them.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar Wednesday said the Centre will not tolerate the attacks on the healthcare workers in the country amid the coronavirus pandemic and has brought an ordinance to make it a punishable offence. In a Cabinet briefing, Javadekar said the government will amend the Epidemics Diseases Act, 1897 to make the attacks on healthcare workers a cognisable and non-bailable offence, under which a violator may be awarded with a jail term of three months to five years with a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh. In cases of severe injury to workers, the jail term will be increased to six month to seven years with a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
The number of coronavirus cases in India stood at 19,984 on Wednesday, including 15,474 active cases and 640 deaths. States across the country added over 50 deaths on Tuesday, the highest single-day toll since the start of the outbreak. Maharashtra reported the highest infections (5,218), followed by Gujarat (2,178) and Delhi (2,156).