The government has registered a bill in Parliament seeking to increase penalties for people who assault or physically attack doctors and other health workers, as well as those who lock down or vandalize health institutions.
The Bill to Amend the Act Related to Security of Health Workers and Health Institutions, registered in the House of Representatives by Health Minister Nisha Mehta, proposes tougher penalties for such offenses.
The bill also expands the definition of health workers to include doctors and nurses undergoing internships.
Under the existing law, the term health worker applies only to individuals registered with the relevant professional council. In other words, only those registered with the Nepal Medical Council or Nepal Nursing Council are recognized as health workers. The new definition also recognizes medical and allied science students, as well as students undergoing internships, as health workers.
The bill also broadens the definition of health workers’ security. While the existing law covers only financial security, the bill includes physical and financial security as well as the mental and psychosocial security of health workers.
The current law prohibits assaulting or physically injuring health workers or employees working at health institutions. The amendment adds the term “physical attack” to the provision.
It also adds a provision prohibiting the display or use of criminal force while carrying weapons at health institutions.
The bill would also remove the option for people who assault health workers to escape punishment simply by paying a fine.
Under the existing law, anyone who sets fire to a health institution can be sentenced to two to five years in prison or fined between Rs 200,000 and Rs 500,000.
Under the proposed amendment, paying a Rs 500,000 fine would no longer be enough to avoid imprisonment for arson. The government has proposed both imprisonment and a fine for such offenses.
Likewise, anyone who vandalizes or otherwise causes damage to a health institution, assaults or physically injures a health worker or employee, or displays criminal force while carrying a weapon would face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 300,000.
Under the existing law, such offenders could receive either a fine of Rs 300,000 or imprisonment of up to three years. In effect, those who assaulted doctors could avoid imprisonment by paying the fine.
The bill also proposes up to one year in prison and a fine of up to Rs 100,000 for anyone who locks or pickets a health institution, obstructs the treatment of patients seeking or receiving care at health institutions, or threatens, verbally abuses, behaves indecently toward, or insults health workers or employees of a health institution.
Under the existing law, this penalty was also not mandatory, allowing people involved in such acts to avoid imprisonment by paying a fine.
