'Heinous attacks on doctors, especially in West Bengal have led to this,' says Health Minister Harsh Vardhan calling for stringent law amid pan-India doctor agitation. Read here

Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday tweeted appealing to the Centre to enact laws in order to ensure the security of doctors.

Calling the incidents of attacks on doctors across India 'heinous', he said that the Centre must pass a law that makes an attack on doctors a non-bailable offence with 12-year jail sentence. He also said that the Clinical Establishment Act must also be withdrawn as it treats doctors as criminals.

Earlier on Friday, the Union Minister wrote to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee appealing her to not turn the sensitive matter of the doctors' protest into a prestige affair. He also reminded the doctors to not forget the oath they took to serve the patients. He also said that he would be writing to every chief minister and state health minister to make sure that there is security in medical institutions, hospitals. He also appealed to the end their strike.

Read the letter below:

READ | Here's The Number Of Resignations From Medical Colleges As Agitating Doctors Place 6 Demands And Seek An Apology From WB CM Mamata Banerjee To End Their Strike

The Indian Medical Association called for a Pan India strike on June 14. This came after the two-day agitation by junior doctors across Kolkata, protesting against the physical assault of an intern doctor at the NRS Medical college in the hands of the family of a patient who had died on Monday, June 10. 

Following the strike West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee addressed the protest on June 13, warning the doctors to resume their duties within the next four hours and threatened to have their hostels vacated if they refused to do so. She called the matter a conspiracy by the BJP and the Left.

WATCH: "Will Write To Mamata Banerjee And CMs Of All States To Ensure Protection Of Doctors," Says Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Amid Nationwide Doctors Strike