Tuesday’s incident in which a mob broke into a hospital ICU in Gurgaon and shot at two patients has shaken the hospital and healthcare fraternity. Rising incidents of violence in hospitals by irate relatives of patients has further dented their confidence in the law and order machinery.
Calling themselves the victims of the “mob frenzy”, many hospitals are now planning to spruce up security measures by employing bouncers and armed security guards.
But the Gurgaon police said that while the hospitals were at a liberty to deploy armed guards, security guidelines had no provisions for employing bouncers in hospitals or other private organisations such as bars and discotheques.
A shocked Dr Naval Jain, the CMD of Sunrise Hospital, visited the hospital and said it was time the hospitals revisited their safety and security strategies. “We should be allowed to hire bouncers. We don’t mean to assault unruly people but only tame them. But the police does not allow us to hire bounders and insists on hiring security guards who prove ineffective in such situations,” Jain said.
Some other big-ticket hospitals such as Artemis too have been targets of mob frenzy in Gurgaon. Dr Devlina Chakravarty, chief operating officer and director of medical services at Artemis, said, “We can spend a lot on private security services and equipment, yet it won’t be enough. A combined effort of the local police and the hospitals is the solution.”