Home Ministry directs States for action against health worker attackers

New Delhi: The Home Ministry has written to State governments to take strict action against health worker attackers and in incidents of attacks on health professionals and frontline workers and ensure the security of the medical fraternity.

Referring to security-related incidents of some health professionals and frontline workers, Joint Secretary (MHA) Punya Salila Srivastava said the Home Ministry has “written to all the States to take strict action against those involved in the attacks.”

She said the States have also been directed through video conferencing to take these incidences very seriously and act promptly. “The Home Ministry has also clearly instructed the States to ensure the security of the medical fraternity,” Srivastava said during a regular press briefing related to the developments of novel coronavirus pandemic that has claimed 56 lives and over 2,300 confirmed cases across India.

The Home Ministry’s instructions to the States were given amid reports from various States including Madhya Pradesh and Bihar where health workers and the police officials who went to collect the blood samples of the suspected COVID-19 patients were allegedly attacked by a mob. Stones were thrown at the medical staff and police by health worker attackers at the Hazrat Ganj Chowk of Qasim Bazar police station area in Munger in Bihar and Indore in Madhya Pradesh earlier this week. The ambulances were also damaged. Locals alleged that the quarantine facility provided by the administration is like a prison. Some of the patients also ran away from the quarantine facility but were later caught by the police.

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