BENGALURU: The state government has finally deployed Home Guards at all the hospitals that come under the Bangalore Medical College Research Institute (BMCRI). The Home Guards started to report for duty on Saturday. This comes after 1,200 junior doctors and students of BMCRI staged an eight-day protest from November 1, demanding that security be provided to doctors.
The protest was held after a post graduate student was assaulted by members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike at Minto Hospital.
Minto Eye Hospital Director Dr Sujatha Rathod said, “We are glad that the Home Guards are deployed. There are seven guards deployed at Minto Eye Hospital. They will work in three shifts, with two guards in each shift. We have also increased the number of doctors who will be available for emergencies.”
Members of Residents Doctor Association said that a doctor was recently assaulted by a patient’s relative at Victoria Hospital and there was another case where a relative of a patient misbehaved with a woman doctor at Bowring Hospital. As a result, many doctors approached Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan to provide immediate security to doctors. “After the recent incident we did not want to protest as the police took immediate action against the people who assaulted the doctor. However, we cannot wait for the police to come to our rescue ever time there is an assault,” a doctor said.
Doctors said that they are now waiting for CCTV cameras to be installed in hospitals. “We were told by the Deputy CM that personnel from Karnataka Industrial Security Force (KISF) will guard the hospitals, but for now only home guards have been deployed. We are hoping for more security and want the CCTV cameras to also be installed,” said Dr Naveen, member of Resident Doctor Association.
Ashwath Narayan told TNSE, “Providing KISF personnel will not be possible as they are already short in number. That is why we have gone ahead with the home guards. In regard to the CCTV cameras, we have called for companies and tenders will be called thereafter, depending on the company we have chosen. We will instal 200-300 cameras.”