Union health ministry orders states to submit hospital security reports after Kolkata horror

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has issued a directive to states, asking them to submit reports detailing the actions taken to improve security measures in medical institutions.

This comes after a virtual conference held on August 28, where Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra discussed key security concerns with chief secretaries and directors general of police (DGPs) from all states and Union territories.

The meeting focused on identifying hospitals with high footfall as high-risk establishments and emphasised the importance of conducting security audits in consultation with local health and police authorities. Special attention was given to areas prone to security breaches, such as emergency rooms, intensive care units (ICUs), and labour rooms.

States were also encouraged to ensure the installation and proper functioning of CCTV cameras, particularly in high-risk areas, with regular monitoring from a central control room.

Additionally, they discussed quickly sharing incident video footage with local police to ensure fast responses.

The ministry also recommended employing ex-servicemen as security personnel in identified high-risk areas and focused on the need for internal security committees in hospitals, involving resident doctors and students.

Clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) for incident response and thorough background checks for all outsourced and contractual workers were highlighted as essential steps.

It also emphasised on proper training and establishment of bereavement protocols for all doctors and healthcare workers to handle intense and emotional grief situations and deployment of patient facilitators or MTS for all patient-related activities inside the hospitals, which requires ferrying or shifting patients from diagnostics to therapeutics.

"Most of the states/UTs have informed in the meeting that various actions are already initiated as per the suggestions provided in the letter dated 23.08.2024 by the undersigned. It is also heartening to note that some of the states have initiated additional measures over and above those suggested by the MoHFW. In this regard, all the states and UTs are requested to provide an action-taken report of the immediate/ short-term remedial measures already initiated as well as appropriate action taken before September 10, 2024," Chandra said in the letter.

On August 22, the Supreme Court directed that "the secretary in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare shall engage with the chief secretaries and directors general of police so as to ensure that the state governments/Union territories put in place certain basic minimum requirements pending the receipt of the report of the National Task Force to assuage the concerns of the doctors over their safety at their workplaces".

States must take action within two weeks to address the urgent situation, Chandra said. On August 23, he wrote to the chief secretaries and DGPs, stressing the issue of violence in medical institutions and the recent nationwide protests by resident doctors after the alleged rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.