AIIMS to counsel guards to make them people-friendly

New Delhi: In an effort to make security personnel more people-friendly, AIIMS will soon conduct counselling sessions for them.

Around 1,600 security personnel in AIIMS are mostly the first point of contact for patients and their relatives. The counselling sessions are aimed at evaluating stamina, agility and alertness through a fitness test. The exercise is likely to happen next month.

The move comes in the backdrop of a patient feedback exercise, “Mera Aspataal (my hospital)”, launched by the Union health ministry last year, identifying staff behaviour as the “single most important reason” for dissatisfaction among 22 per cent of nearly 46,000 patients who visited the premier medical institute between October and December last year. AIIMS handles 20,000 patients in the OPD and 1,200 in the emergency section daily.

“The heavy rush creates tremendous pressure on the security personnel who sometimes find it difficult to cope. They would be given counselling sessions so that they are better sensitised to deal with surging patient load,” said an AIIMS official.

“It is crucial that the security staff present themselves as fit, alert and well-behaved personnel as they are the first point of contact for patients and their relatives,” he said., adding, that the ‘Mere Aspataal’ feedback is a red flag for the administration.

“Mera Aspataal feedback application has highlighted that the major reason for patient dissatisfaction is staff behaviour after which we felt that there is a need to sensitise the security personnel, along with other hospital staff,” he said.

The administration has commenced follow-up work on the feedback received and has convened meetings of heads of various departments and medical superintendents to discuss it.