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Doctors demand security at government hospitals
Over 100 doctors and staff of the Stanley Medical College and Hospital gathered for a sit-in protest on Sunday at the hospital premises following an incident of a patient’s kin slapping a doctor at the hospital on Saturday night.
Chennai
Dr Ponnumbala Namasivayam, the dean of the hospital, said that it all started with a family member of a patient slapping a house surgeon, “The house surgeon was administering IV to a patient who had been hospitalised there for four days due to diarrhoea. The patient, who could not bear the pain, screamed, causing her attender to slap the house surgeon.”
Angered by the incident, the doctors protested demanding security. “A similar incident had taken place at the hospital around one-and-a-half years ago. We had beefed up our hospital security after the incident took place. Today, we have assured our staff that such an incident will not be repeated,” he said.
While there are around 80 security personnel at the campus, the hospital has decided to increase 10 more staff from the institution, besides asking the government for more. “We already have a police outpost.
The Deputy Commissioner assured to improve the security provided to us. Besides, we had recently increased the number of CCTVs in the hospital campus,” said another doctor from the hospital. The Hospital Protection Act, which was introduced in 2008, forbids any kind of assault on a hospital employee. “It states that a culprit will be granted two years of imprisonment. Since the Act was introduced, the number of such cases have reduced. However, they must be completely checked,” she added.
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