NEW DELHI: Union home secretary Govind Mohan on Wednesday asked all states to ensure that hospitals with high footfalls have CCTV cameras in blind spots.
In a virtual meeting with the chief secretaries and DGPs of all states, Mohan also called for integration of the emergency helpline number 112 for health care workers, access control, and sharing of new laws regarding violence against healthcare professionals as minimum measures pending the receipt of the report of National Task Force (NTF) to address the concerns of the doctors over their safety at their workplaces.
Union health secretary Apurva Chandra, who co-chaired the meeting, asked state officials to conduct joint security audit along with district collector and DSP, and management of local health facilities to review any shortfall in existing infrastructure and security arrangements, and to take up remedial measures. Chandra also called for a security check of all hired security and other services staff to be done on a regular basis and the establishment of control rooms, especially in large hospitals and medical colleges, with duty rosters of staff that regularly monitor CCTV and securely store the data. Routine security patrolling should be carried out in all the hospital/medical college premises during night time, he said.
The meeting was held in pursuance of order of Supreme Court on Aug 22 to ensure that certain basic minimum measures are put in place by the state govts/Union Territories even before receipt of the report of the NTF. In Wednesday’s meeting, officers of state govts/UTs listed out some of the immediate and short term measures taken by them. It included the availability of a police chowki/police thana in premises of many large medical colleges/district hospitals, and increased patrolling by police in the night and review of CCTV network and strengthening surveillance through additional CCTVs in hospital premises, especially coverage of dark zones.
In a virtual meeting with the chief secretaries and DGPs of all states, Mohan also called for integration of the emergency helpline number 112 for health care workers, access control, and sharing of new laws regarding violence against healthcare professionals as minimum measures pending the receipt of the report of National Task Force (NTF) to address the concerns of the doctors over their safety at their workplaces.
Union health secretary Apurva Chandra, who co-chaired the meeting, asked state officials to conduct joint security audit along with district collector and DSP, and management of local health facilities to review any shortfall in existing infrastructure and security arrangements, and to take up remedial measures. Chandra also called for a security check of all hired security and other services staff to be done on a regular basis and the establishment of control rooms, especially in large hospitals and medical colleges, with duty rosters of staff that regularly monitor CCTV and securely store the data. Routine security patrolling should be carried out in all the hospital/medical college premises during night time, he said.
The meeting was held in pursuance of order of Supreme Court on Aug 22 to ensure that certain basic minimum measures are put in place by the state govts/Union Territories even before receipt of the report of the NTF. In Wednesday’s meeting, officers of state govts/UTs listed out some of the immediate and short term measures taken by them. It included the availability of a police chowki/police thana in premises of many large medical colleges/district hospitals, and increased patrolling by police in the night and review of CCTV network and strengthening surveillance through additional CCTVs in hospital premises, especially coverage of dark zones.