State hospitals at South Dinajpur get new CCTVs

Balurghat: A number of CCTV cameras have been installed at all state-run hospitals in South Dinajpur district to tighten security at health care facilities in the district.

Chief medical officer of Health (South Dinajpur), Sukumar Dey said: "District health department has taken the initiative to beef up the security system of all government hospitals in both Balurghat and Gangarampur subdivisions, including district hospital, sub-divisional hospital, super-specialty hospital and rural hospital in the district. We have installed sufficient CCTV cameras at all hospitals wherever necessary."

According to a source, the installation of surveillance camera was started in August, 2014 as per direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with the objective of preventing untoward activities carried out in facilities.

Balurghat district hospital and super-specialty hospital have 40 surveillance cameras each and of them 16 are newly installed. Notably, Balurghat super-specialty hospital runs on the premises of district hospital. Similarly, Gangarampur sub-divisional hospital has 32 cameras while 16 of them have been recently installed. Despite, the district has seven rural hospitals where 56 cameras (eight in each hospital) have been functioning since 2017.

According to a senior district health official with the help of surveillance cameras, the concerned authority can keep vigil on multiple sections as now the hospitals are multifunctional and have various departments under the same roof. "It's true that all the state-run hospitals have multifunctional health facilities for the people. Naturally besides patients and medical staff, a diverse population visits hospitals on regular basis. People from different sections of the society visit the hospital for different purposes. It will be risky unless a proper security system and this is why the installation of surveillance camera is important in health facilities," said an official.

It may be mentioned that the officials from state health department while visiting the district have stressed on security system in government hospitals.

"We will not compromise with the security system of the state health facilities in both rural and urban areas. Surveillance camera is integral part of it. With the help of it, we can prevent theft and child-trafficking and monitor patients," Dey said.