Falling short: Most security cameras at major hospitals out of order

Private guards at hospital entrances found untrained in an audit by police

LAHORE: Most cameras installed at major city hospitals for security purposes are not functional, doctors interviewed during visits to major city hospitals tell The Express Tribune.

They said other measures identified in Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued for hospitals’ security three years ago were also being ignored. These included repair of damaged sections of boundary walls, installation of walk-through gates at entrances and barbed wires on boundary walls.

“There has been no security audit of the hospital recently. The boundary walls are damaged at several points allowing unauthorised access to the premises,” said Dr Khuda Bux, who works at Mayo Hospital’s emergency ward. He said beggars, vendors and hawkers were a common sight in front of the emergency ward.

This correspondent’s visits to Mayo, Jinnah, Services and Children Hospitals confirmed that boundary walls were damaged and barbed wires were missing at various points and walk-through gates were either missing or not operational.

Asif Mehmood, a security guard at Mayo Hospital, said there were only two guards assigned at the main entrance of the hospital. “Hundreds of people visit the hospital everyday. It is not possible to check everyone of these visitors,” he said. “We observe every visitor but frisk only those who appear to be suspicious,” he added.

Jinnah Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Shafqat said steps were underway to solve these problems. “Hopefully we will fix these issues in a couple of weeks,” he said.

Operations DIG Haider Ashraf said that around two months ago the Police Department had conducted a security audit of government hospitals.

He said most private guards deployed at hospital entrances were found untrained to perform their tasks. “We have offered to train these personnel,” he said. He said the Health Department had also been asked to verify the credentials of these guards. “Hospitals have been declared high security areas.

Our personnel are performing duties at the premises,” he said. “It is the responsibility of the Health Department to fix security cameras,” he added.

Speaking to The Tribune on Saturday, Health Department spokesperson Akhlaq Ali Khan dismissed the suggestion that guards performing duties at hospital entrances were untrained. He said they were adequately trained to perform their duties. Trainings were arranged for security personnel at regular intervals, he said.

Khan said measures had been put in place to fix damaged boundary walls and install missing barbed wire and walk-through gates. However, he said, most security cameras installed at hospitals were still out of order. “We did not issue a new SOP following the Quetta suicide incident. We tried to implement the existing SOP more rigorously,” he said.

Khan said that hospitals were public places and could not be turned into ‘garrisons’. He said it was not possible to check all visitors. He said security personnel in plain clothes had been deployed at all important locations at major city hospitals.

He urged the public to remain vigilant during their visits to hospitals. “I request people to report any suspicious activity or item in their surroundings to the law enforcement agencies,” he added. Khan said the department would soon hold a fresh security audit at major hospitals.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2016.