A central law against violence on healthcare workers has been stalled for five years. What changes that?

India has no single central law protecting healthcare workers from violence in ordinary circumstances. What exists is a patchwork: more than 20 states have Medical Protection Acts of varying strength, and the Epidemic Diseases Act amendment of 2020 made assaults cognisable and non-bailable — but chiefly during a notified epidemic.

A Central Protection of Healthcare Workers and Medical Establishments from Violence Bill was introduced in Parliament in 2025, proposing cognisable, non-bailable offences nationwide. Discussion of a central bill has now been stalled for roughly five years, and the health ministry has previously stated no central law was in the pipeline.

Meanwhile the pattern in casualty departments has not changed.

Two questions for this assembly, and I would ask people to be concrete rather than angry:

First — in the states that already have a Medical Protection Act, has it changed police behaviour when you actually call? An Act that produces no FIR is a press release.

Second — beyond legislation: what has measurably reduced violence where you work? Controlled entry, security staffing ratios, a communication protocol for breaking bad news, a defined escalation pathway? If it worked in your hospital, describe it precisely enough that another hospital could copy it.

I would rather this thread produced a usable safety protocol than a resolution nobody reads.