Govt mulls jail term for obstructing health work

Faced with constantly emerging public health emergencies, the Union health ministry has proposed two years imprisonment for those obstructing public health officials during a health emergency in the ministry’s draft Public Health (prevention control management of epidemic, bio-terrorism and disasters) Bill 2017, which has been put up for public comments. The proposed Bill comes more than 120 years after the existing epidemic diseases Act that came into existence in 1897.

Proposing to repeal the existing act as it does not empower the government to take public health measures like screening measures at airports during a health emergency, the draft bill aims at providing the government with adequate powers that can be used during a public health emergency. At present, measures to quarantine people during health emergencies are undertaken under Indian penal code.

According to the draft, any contravention due to negligence of the proposed act shall be punishable with a fine upto `10,000 for the first contravention. “Likewise, any willful contravention... will be a cognizable offence punishable with a fine upto `50,000 for first contravention and `1 lakh for repeat contraventions, and may also lead to imprisonment upto a period of two years,” the draft said.