close
close

Hospital security tightened in Telangana after incident in Kolkata

Hyderabad: Health Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha directed authorities to set up hospital safety committees at state and district levels to develop safety regulations and submit a report by September 14. This is in line with Supreme Court guidelines on developing mechanisms for safety of medical staff following the rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata last month.

Rajnarsimha, at a review meeting, directed officials to strengthen security in government hospitals, especially for women doctors, nurses and staff, by introducing night patrolling by SHE teams. He directed that steps be taken to set up permanent outposts in all teaching hospitals.

The meeting decided that cases related to attacks on hospital doctors and nurses should be registered under the Telangana Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2008.

Rajanarsimha sought data on the cases registered so far and ordered the setting up of a fast track court in the 10 undivided districts to expedite the trial of these cases. He ordered the preparation of a standard operating procedure (SOP) for security and directed medical departments and police officials to coordinate on security issues in hospitals.

He said that police outposts had been set up in 10 teaching hospitals and land had been provided for construction of police outposts in the government-built TIMS hospitals. He said private security agencies employed in hospitals must be recognised under the Private Security Agencies – Regulations) Act, 2015. He also ordered the integration of CCTV cameras in the local police stations of all hospitals.

You may also like...