Doc safety meet: Centre asks states to hold night patrols, control access

This comes a day after the ten-member National Task Force (NTF), appointed by the Supreme Court, met for the first time to formulate a protocol for the safety and security of healthcare professionals

The Centre on Wednesday asked the states to conduct night patrols, security audits of district hospitals and regulate access to big health facilities as part of the measures to prevent violence against medics and ensure their safety.

The virtual meeting was co-chaired by secretaries of the Union home and health ministries and attended by chief secretaries and director generals of police (DGPs).

This meeting comes a day after the ten-member National Task Force (NTF), appointed by the Supreme Court met for the first time to formulate a protocol for the safety and security of healthcare professionals. The task force had decided to hold wider consultations with other stakeholders.

“The meeting was in pursuance of the Supreme Court’s order dated August 22 to ensure that certain basic minimum measures are put in place by the state governments and union territories (UTs) pending receipt of the report of NTF to address the concerns of the doctors over their safety at their workplaces,” an official source said.

At the meeting, the officers of state and UT administrations apprised the Centre about the steps taken by them to enhance security and provide a safer working environment for healthcare workers across public and private hospitals, medical colleges and other healthcare institutions.

“These included provision of chief security officers in hospitals and medical colleges, police verification of contractual and outsourced employees working in government hospitals and joint security audits at government district hospitals and medical colleges by district magistrates, the superintendent of police along with the dean or director of these institutions,” the source added.

The Centre further requested officers from state and UT administrations to ensure the installation of CCTV cameras at blind spots, display of revamped positions under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and integration with ‘112’ helpline for healthcare workers in the hospitals with high footfall.

The meeting also comes after Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra on August 23 asked all states to come up with innovative ideas, laying emphasis on some immediate measures which can be considered to enhance security and provide a safer working environment for healthcare workers.

These measures included constitution of committees on hospital security, violence prevention and sexual harassment involving senior doctors and administrative officers, along with enacting provisions for safe movement of resident doctors and nurses within hospital premises.

Safeguarding the saviours

- Routine security patrolling in all hospital/medical college premises at night.

- Limit access to big hospitals

- Installation of CCTV cameras at blind spots

- Training of hired security personnel

- Joint security audits to review any shortfall in existing infrastructure and security arrangements