A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday sought the view of the State Government on including security and managerial staff of hospitals under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act.
The Bench comprising Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Kauser Edappagath passed the order when a review petition by the Kerala Private Hospital Association against fixing of charges for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals came up for hearing.
The Bench also granted the government time to address the issue of providing free treatment in government hospitals for post-COVID complications for 30 days after a patient tested negative. The court was of the view that the treatment during the 30 days after patients turned negative should be reckoned as COVID treatment just as the Centre considered the death of patients occurring 30 days after they turned negative as COVID death.
When the petition was taken up for hearing, counsel for the association submitted that a security guard of a hospital at Kottackal was brutally attacked and the police did not register a case under the healthcare personnel protection Act. It was security guards and managerial personnel who were first exposed to attacks when violent incidents took place at hospitals. Therefore, the Government could consider bringing these staff under the purview of the Act.
The court observed that the Government must consider bringing the security and managerial staff of the hospitals under the ambit of the Act.
