To soothe the sentiments of the medical fraternity in the country, the Supreme Court assured resident doctors and interns that no adverse action would be taken against those participating in the protests, as it urged medical professionals to go back to work.
It asked the protesting medical community to return to work, assuring them that no adverse action would be taken against the doctors. A bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud had asked the protesting medical community to return to work and assured that no adverse action will be taken against the doctors.
"Ask them first to return to work. Once they return to work, nobody is going to take adverse action against the doctors. Let them first come back to work and then, if there is any difficulty, we will make sure that no adverse action is taken against the doctors," said the Bench, also comprising Justices JB Padriwala and Manoj Misra, adding that "the poor people coming to hospital cannot be left behind in the lurch."
It said, "They take appointments two years back, and suddenly told that they will not be attended. Let all doctors resume work. Please rest assured that once the doctors resume duty, then we will prevail upon the authorities to not take any adverse action. How does public health infrastructure run if doctors will not resume work?"
The administration of different hospitals in the country, it was brought to the notice of the apex court today, took various punitive measures against the protesting doctors, including marking protesting doctors on leave and deduction of casual leaves, during the hearing on suo moto case titled "Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, and related issues.".
It is in this backdrop that the bench, led by CJI Chandrachud, yesterday called upon doctors and medical professionals all over the country to resume work at the earliest.
"Since this court is seized of the matter pertaining to the safety and well-being of all medical professionals at their workplaces, and the issue involving high national priority, we will request all the doctors, who are abstaining from work, to resume work at the earliest," it said, adding that the medical community stands assured that their concerns are receiving the highest attention of the Supreme Court.
It also directed the CBI to file a status report regarding the progress of the investigation within two days and the State government to file a status report in relation to the incident of vandalisation inside the hospital premises.
The Centre, on its part, issued an office memorandum on Wednesday and constituted a National Task Force with the Union Cabinet Secretary as the chairperson, in compliance with the direction of the apex court.
The National Task Force will have the responsibility to frame effective recommendations concerning the safety, working conditions, and well-being of medical professionals and will file an interim report before the Supreme Court within three weeks and the final one within two months.
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