Parliament Passes Bill To Amend Epidemic Diseases Act, Ensures Protection For Healthcare Workers

New Delhi: The Parliament on late Monday (September 21) passed the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020, ensuring protection for healthcare workers. The bill was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha on September 19. “The government took advise from various law experts before introducing this act. Under this act those who insult our corona warriors will be asked to pay fine or may even get jail term,” Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in the Lok Sabha.

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He added,

The ordinance that was introduced for this act was necessary. The Centre took lead in honouring those corona warriors who lost their lives on the line of duty. We announced insurance for 22 lakh corona warriors across the country, be it doctors, nurse or Anganwadi workers.

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The minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led from the front to tackle the pandemic and spoke to state chief ministers several times.

Since the last nine months, the Prime Minister and his team are working hard and taking steps to control the pandemic. He held meetings with chief ministers at least a dozen times. The entire 135 crore citizens of our country are fighting together against this pandemic. The Centre and states are working in tandem to tackle the virus, he said.

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Harsh Vardhan said that the COVID-19 vaccine will be made available across the country whenever it is launched.

The Lok Sabha passed The Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2020, before the House was adjourned till 3 pm on Tuesday (September 22).

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) 

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.  

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