Declare hospitals as safe zones: IMA

New Delhi : Terming as "disturbing" reports of police allegedly entering hospitals in violence-hit areas during agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said such actions are "unacceptable" and demanded that hospitals be declared "safe zones".

The doctors' body said hospitals are sacrosanct and are exempted from violence even in a war zone. "What makes the IMA react today is that disturbing reports of denial of access to medical care are emerging.

This is unacceptable. Everyone has the right to access medical care. "The government and its establishment have no right to deny anyone their right of access. Visuals of a policeman violently opening an ICU door by stomping is a clear indication of the new truth and the new standards," the IMA said in a statement.

Asserting that violence in hospitals is not acceptable, the doctor's body said that it stands up for retaining hospitals as safe zones. "There are disturbing reports from areas of protests and resistance that police have entered hospitals and at least in one case the ICU.

This is a new low in civic life of the nation but not entirely unexpected given the impunity with which violence is heaped on doctors and hospitals. However the difference this time is that it is the establishment which has lost its restraint," it said.