Indian medical act

Hey,

In India, the central government has taken several measures to deal with the epidemic, including setting up of quarantine facilities and rescuing Indian citizens stranded abroad. Both the centre and state governments are empowered to regulate health-related matters.

When talking about legislations, the Epidemic Diseases Act is the main legislative framework at the central level for the prevention and spread of dangerous epidemic diseases and is the major act which can be used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act empowers the central government to take necessary measures to deal with dangerous epidemic disease at ports of entry and exit. The Act also empowers the states to take special measures or promulgate regulations to deal with epidemics within their state jurisdictions. Under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, thus, any state government, when satisfied that any part of its territory is threatened with an outbreak of a dangerous disease, may adopt or authorise all measures, including quarantine, to prevent the outbreak of the disease.

The 1897 law, which was enacted to tackle bubonic plague in the then Bombay state, is meant to contain dangerous epidemic diseases. Similarly, the central government, when satisfied that there is an imminent threat of an outbreak of an epidemic disease and that the provisions of the law at that time are insufficient to prevent such an outbreak, they may take measures and prescribe regulations allowing for the inspection of any ship or vessel leaving or arriving at any port and for the detention of any person arriving or intending to sail. Any person who disobeys any regulation or order made under the 1897 Act may be charged with an offence under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. In the past, the Act has been used to fight various epidemics such as swine flu, dengue, and cholera. In 2018, it was invoked in Vadodara to fight cholera. As per reports, in Chandigarh it was invoked to tackle malaria in 2015.
 

Hope this answers your question!

Regards

Palak Singh

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 (caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2) has exposed glaring gaps in India’s domestic laws. Absent a rationally structured legislation to fall back on, the Union government in March advised states to invoke the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 to tackle the pandemic in their jurisdictions. The 123-year-old colonial law, however, does not even define what a disease is, let alone an epidemic or a pandemic. Indeed, a Public Health (Prevention, Control and Management of Epidemics, Bio-Terrorism and Disasters) Bill had been drafted in 2017, intended to replace the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. 

The colonial-era Epidemic Diseases Act (EDA) of 1987 is  India’s solitary law that has been historically used as a framework for containing the spread of various diseases including cholera and malaria.[1] On its own, however, the EDA—comprising four sections in one page—might be insufficient to deal with the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2

The Indian government appears to have a limited arsenal comprising the colonial-era Epidemic Diseases Act, the battered Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code which prohibits public gatherings, and the Disaster Management Act of 2005.

The law authorises the Central and state governments to take “exceptional measures and prescribe regulations” to be observed by the citizens to contain the spread of a disease. Over the years, no standard or Model Rules and Regulations have been prescribed as a corollary to the law. The law merely outlines a set of rudimentary elements, including travel restrictions, examination and quarantine of persons suspected of being infected in hospitals or temporary accommodations, and statutory health inspections of any ship or vessel leaving or arriving at any port of call. The law specifies consequences that will be faced by those violating the remit of the Act, with penalties being pari passu with Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, which is the law that deals with acts of disobedience to a government order.

By way of example, in India’s medical template, the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) units are in-charge of early detection. The medical officer stationed in the primary health centre, the community health workers and field workers, function in close coordination with the District Chief Medical Officer and the designated district level teams for the prevention and containment of disease outbreaks. When a system already exists, especially with regard to disease reconnaissance, the provision in the 1897 EDA for devolution of power to “any” person makes little sense; in an exigency, the biggest challenge would be to break hierarchies and establish seamless coordination. Except for providing for anodyne supervisory directions for different levels of the government machinery, the 1897 Act does not mention any scientific steps that are required to prevent or contain the spread of an epidemic.

The punishment prescribed in terms of Section 3 of the Act that is pari passu with Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code[5] also needs to be revisited. This Section provides for a fine of INR 200 and imprisonment of one month for violating an order of a public servant.

India has a number of laws that can be applied during a public health emergency. There is, for instance, the Indian Ports Act, as well as the Livestock Importation Act, the Aircraft Rules and Drugs and Cosmetic Act, which all contain provisions that can be used during a situation such as COVID-19. The requirement is for these provisions to be harmonised into a single overarching legislation.