The rules of the Bihar Medical Institution and Person Protection Act, 2011, approved by the state cabinet on Tuesday, will boost doctors’ security and protect health-care facilities, the state chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said.

Under the Bihar Medical Institution and Person Protection Rules, 2018, no doctor can be arrested directly for medical negligence. While doctors could earlier be arrested on the basis of a police complaint by the patient or patient’s relatives, from now on the patient or his/her attendant will have to fill up a form in the police station for registering the complaint. The cops will send the complaint copy to the district magistrate, who will later form a team of competent doctors to investigate.

Whether the doctor will be arrested or not will depend on the doctors’ team’s report.

Even if a case is lodged against a doctor in consumer court, the advice of a competent committee of doctors would be required.

“The rules have definitely provided doctors huge relief as earlier they were arrested even if they were in no way involved in any kind of medical negligence,” said Dr Ajay Kumar, senior vice-president of the state IMA. “Those who damage medical establishments will also be liable to pay Rs 50,000 fine and can be jailed for up to three years.”

The rules say the cops and the administration have to identify hospitals prone to violence and ensure protection to doctors at those facilities.

“Security audit of the hospitals has to be done by a deputy superintendent of police and based on the audit he/she has to take steps for the security of doctors there, like deploying registered private security agencies and installing CCTV cameras. Also, regular workshops have to be organised on doctor-patient relationship by the police and administration with the help of local people. Regular patrolling at such hospitals has also been made mandatory,” Ajay added.

Dr Harihar Dikshit, vice-president of the Bihar IMA, said that according to the rules in case property of any hospital has been ransacked by patients’ attendants, the cops have to video record the evidence.

“Earlier there was a tendency among cops to avoid taking action in any case in which any doctor was assaulted or hospital’s property had been ransacked,” he said.