Kozhikode: Even as healthcare personnel occasionally come under attack from angry public upset with services or other unfortunate developments, the Health Department is strangely dragging its feet on raising the security. Its earlier announcement of installing CCTV system on the hospital premises following a High Court verdict is yet to come through.
The High Court had issued directives for measures including mandatory setting up of CCTV cameras to ensure security for doctors and other hospital staff.
Only five District Medical Officers (DMOs) have furnished responses to a Right to Information (RTI) query that sought to know where all the directives had been implemented. Even those were vague replies such as 'trying to implement' and 'will implement'.
The sluggishness of the Health Department in ensuring security is proving to be a setback even when the incidents of attacks against hospital employees are increasing.
The RTI query was made by Kannur native Dr K V Babu.
What the HC ordered
The main directive of the High Court was that at least the casualty wing at taluk, district and general hospitals, hospitals for women and children and medical college hospitals should be under CCTV surveillance. And that these CCTV footage should be made available at the nearest police aid post. Ex-servicemen should be deployed for providing security and the punishments for attacking the hospitals should be publicly displayed, as per the High Court directive.
Though the government issued an order in this regard on August 12, 2021, little action has been taken. After 13 months, the health department on October 6, 2022, issued the guidelines stating that the order has to be implemented.
Big hospitals in Thrissur have CCTV, while applications have been submitted to the local bodies for setting up these at other hospitals as well, according to the DMO.
The Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kannur DMOs have passed on 'strict directives' for installing CCTV at all institutions. The Idukki DMO has ordered that 'extreme caution' should be exercised to implement the directive. The DMOs in other districts are yet to respond to the RTI query.
The complacency of the Health Department in complying with the High Court directive is the main reason for the increase in attacks, several healthcare personnel alleged.
