Doctors demand better security at hospitals
According to a YDA press release issued on Sunday, the 18 teaching hospitals in Punjab are guarded by a total of 46 Punjab Police personnel, an average of two to three guards per hospital.
“Because of insufficient police security, incidents of manhandling of duty doctors have become routine,” said the press release. It stated that 35,000 patients visited these hospitals each day. More than 10,000 patients were admitted to these hospitals and around 2,000 doctors working there.
The YDA press release said that five of these hospitals Nishter Hospital Multan, Multan Institute Of Cardiology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore, Punjab Institute Of Cardiology Lahore and Shekh Zayed Hospital Rahim Yar Khan – did not have a single police constable on guard.
The association said that doctors at Nishter Hospital Multan, Services Hospital Lahore and Allied Hospital Faisalabad and Rawalpindi had recently been manhandled in the emergency wards and the incidents led to strikes at these health facilities.
The YDA said that many of the guards were recruited on a political basis and were unfit for the job. Others were usually absent from duty. It said the 46 policemen at the 18 hospitals were often busy providing protocol to patients related to top police officials. The YDA office bearers appealed to the chief minister and the IG of Punjab Police to deploy constables of the Quick Response Force at the emergency and indoor wards of these hospitals.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2011.
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