The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted state a further one week’s time to chalk out a concrete plan to provide appropriate security to doctors in state- and civic-run hospitals in the state so tha
The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted state a further one week’s time to chalk out a concrete plan to provide appropriate security to doctors in state- and civic-run hospitals in the state so that relatives of patients do not target them.
The division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Amjad Sayed observed that the presence of police personnel is more important and it is not necessary to deploy armed policemen at hospitals.
The bench made this observation when acting Advocate General Rohit Deo said the government had decided to post a total of 28 police personnel at the hospitals in Mumbai, which would include at least two armed policemen at each place.
However, the bench said there should be at least four policemen, as the people should feel the police presence. Justice Oka said that it was not necessary for every policeman to be armed, as the objective of this exercise was to make the police presence felt so that it acts as a deterring force to any aggressive element. The bench also sought to know from the state as to how many women constables have been deployed. The judge further added that mere presence of police would not help and the policemen need to maintain strategic positions to curb the attacks.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by activist Afak Mandaviya, through advocate Datta Mane highlighting the issue of doctors going on strike frequently causing inconvenience to poor patients.
The court while granting the state one-week’s time yet again has told them not to wait for court orders to take action and has kept the next hearing on July 6.
According to MARD president Dr Sagar Mundada, on June 10 the state had told the court that it is in the process of installing CCTV cameras in all hospitals and plans to deploy 896 guards, but the installation of CCTVs is only half done and no guards have been deployed yet. In the same hearing, the court had asked the state to send a notice to all hospitals asking them to send a detailed account of the local security upgradation after signature of the local MARD representative but no report has been has been submitted yet.
