NEW DELHI: Following the nationwide protests over the brutal rape and murder of a trainee postgraduate student at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the Centre had proposed a model state law to protect healthcare workers.However, despite the proposal, the Union Home Ministry and the Union Health Ministry have yet to meet to discuss the law’s modalities. This delay comes even as the Centre had earlier backed out of introducing a separate central law for healthcare professionals in 2019.Kerala-based RTI activist Dr K V Babu, who has been pursuing the matter since last year, said the Home Ministry acknowledged through an RTI that the model state law was proposed in 2024. But since its formulation in September last year, he said, both ministries appear “clueless” about its status.Speaking to TNIE, Dr Babu said that following the incident at RG Kar Medical College, the government proposed drafting the law, as confirmed by the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Home Ministry in an RTI reply.“Now, it also seems to be kept in cold storage. This is a deplorable state of affairs, and I hope the Union Home Ministry will pursue the model state law,” he said.”I hope the model state act does not meet the same fate as was the case with the proposal to enact a central law for the protection of HCWs, which was mooted by the Ministry of Health in 2019.”
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