DMK Rajya Sabha member P. Wilson has written to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking the promulgation of an ordinance to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 and prescribe seven years of imprisonment to those who obstruct healthcare personnel from performing their duties and prevent the disposal of bodies of COVID-19 patients.
The letter referred to various incidents of obstructions caused to healthcare professionals across the country and also the recent incident of a neurosurgeon’s body not being allowed to be buried in a cemetery in Chennai.
Describing such incidents as shameful, the Member of Parliament said such offences were punishable with life imprisonment in the United Kingdom. Canada’s criminal code too prescribes punishment of five years for such offences. Therefore, there was an urgent necessity to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act and prescribe at least seven years of imprisonment so that it could act as a deterrent to those who indulge in such offences and inspire confidence among healthcare professionals, he said.