The unpreparedness of healthcare establishments to protect workers from occupational hazards came into sharp focus during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nurses and sanitation workers drew attention to the lack of basic facilities like gloves, drinking water, and access to toilets.
The pandemic shed light on the challenges that healthcare workers routinely face: long working hours, high workloads, exposure to infectious diseases, hazardous chemicals, mental and physical strain. Adding to this are the psychosocial hazards such as fatigue, occupational burnout, distress or declining mental health, which affect the health and quality of work of healthcare workers.
Approximately 1,800 doctors died from Covid-19, the Indian Medical Association has estimated. As of September 22, data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, indicates that 974 health workers had died from the virus.
But despite the significant risks that healthcare workers face there is no specific legislation to protect their occupational health and safety – apart from one narrowly applicable law in the context of HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, is the overarching legal framework that determines work standards in India. It addresses the health and safety concerns of factory and mine workers but fails to provide recourse…
Read more