Stranger danger: Polyclinic hospital lacks requisite security

Some 25 posts for security guards have not been filled for many years.

ISLAMABAD:

Weak security arrangements in the capital’s second largest public hospital have left employees worried.

Polyclinic Hospital currently lack electronic security equipment such as CCTV cameras, walk-through gates or metal detectors and has only 15 poorly-equipped security guards. At present, 25 posts for security guards have been lying vacant for many years.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a hospital official requesting anonymity said anyone can enter the hospital as there is no checking at entry and exit points.

“The lives of 2,500 hospital employees, 10,000 patients who visit outpatient departments (OPDs) every day, and roughly 500 inpatients present at any given time are at stake due to weak security arrangements. Whenever there is a big public rally or protests in the capital, the hospital staff feels insecure,” said the official.

The hospital has multiple public entrances, only one of which is equipped with a walk-through gate, “but it is hardly ever in working condition”, said the official.

The official said that the hospital administration had sent a request to the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) last month to fill the vacant posts, but they are still awaiting a response.

“Whenever there is an emergency situation, the hospital administration has sanitary workers and lower staff act as security guards,” said the official.

The official said that the hospital administration can install CCTV cameras by utilising its own resources, but no one is paying heed to it.

“The hospital building is not very big and four to five cameras can greatly enhance security.”

These cameras will also help keep a check on the daily scuffles that take place between attendants and the doctors, according to the official.

The official suggested following the model employed by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), which has hired retired commandoes to beef up security.

Polyclinic Hospital spokesperson Dr Tanveer Malik confirmed that the hospital administration has sent a request to CADD to fill vacant security guard posts. He expressed hope that the issue will be resolved soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2014.