CHENNAI: Members of the Federation of Government Doctors Association, who met Director General of Police Shankar Jiwal on Sunday, urged the police chief to establish a dedicated hospital protection force at all medical colleges in the state as announced by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa under Rule 110 in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2013.
The doctors, who met the DGP in the wake of the rape and murder of a second-year PG doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata and attempted molestation of a woman intern doctor at Government Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, submitted a petition seeking increased night patrol on hospital campuses and adequate security for all medical staff, particularly women.
The federation said that steps should be taken to ensure that security cameras are properly installed on hospital campuses at key areas and are fully functional. Regular patrol inside primary health centres, district hospitals, taluk and non-taluk government hospitals and government medical colleges should be conducted. The doctors also requested the DGP to conduct regular safety audits along with the heads of the institutions to identify and address any security risk and take swift action against patient attenders who behave in a poor manner and are a potential threat to health workers.
The federation also sought to strictly deal with any outsider using abusive language, un-parliamentary words threatening or indulging in violence and exhibiting drunk behaviour on hospital campuses. The offenders should be booked under Hospital Protection Act 48 of 2008, the doctors said.
The petitioners requested the DGP to issue circular to all police stations in Tamil Nadu to create awareness on the Act and highlighted the necessity to arrest all offenders under its provisions.
The doctors had recently organised protests demanding better security during night at hospitals after an attempt was made to allegedly molest a woman doctor at the two-wheeler parking area of the Coimbatore hospital.