Mamata announces slew of measures to offer better security to doctors
Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government on Monday announced a series of measures for revamping the security at state medical colleges and hospitals, in presence of junior doctors at state secretariat Nabanna.
Apart from putting up collapsible gates at the emergency wards to regulate the entry of unnecessary people inside it along with the patient, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who chaired the meeting in presence of senior officials of the state Health department and top brass of police, instructed them to appoint nodal officers for security of doctors and asked them to take immediate action in cases of attack on them.
"Appoint dedicated nodal officers- one each for addressing such problems at the hospitals. He should focus only on tackling patient agitations and work in coordination with the local officers," she instructed Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma and DG of state Police Virendra.
She instructed the police to be more active and vigilant and take stringent action against those who forcefully enter hospitals and assault doctors. She also instructed officials of the state Health department to take measures to increase the visibility of the grievance cells in all hospitals.
"There are grievance cells in most of the hospitals but many patients and their family members do not know about it because of its improper location. Make these cells at locations so that they are visible to everyone. Take steps to create awareness among people about these cells and their activities. People should know that if something goes wrong, they can lodge a complaint there and not attack the doctors," Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister further instructed her officials to put up hoardings in Bengali, English and Hindi in the grievance cells for better understanding of the patient party.
She also suggested engaging officials like PR personnel in three shifts, whose duty will
be to inform the patients' relatives about their respective patient's condition from time to time.
"The doctors have to handle more than a single patient at one time. So it often becomes difficult for them to communicate with the patient party," Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister stressed on giving special emphasis to security during night and strengthening Rogi Kalyan Samitis in state hospitals. She also suggested putting up alarm systems to connect with the local police station immediately, in case of an untoward incident.
Taking the cue from Banerjee, Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma said:
"We had police forces posted in hospitals, but now we need to streamline the entry of patient parties, so that we can minimise the chance of eventualities."
