Mumbai
It has been a week since Aruna Shanbaug, former nurse at KEM hospital who spent 42 years in a coma, died at the hospital. IC Sisodia, who was security officer at KEM hospital when Shanbaug was sexually assaulted, recounted his experience, saying nothing has changed much in public hospitals in terms of security.
Updated : May 25, 2015, 06:40 AM IST
It has been a week since Aruna Shanbaug, former nurse at KEM hospital who spent 42 years in a coma, died at the hospital. IC Sisodia, who was security officer at KEM hospital when Shanbaug was sexually assaulted, recounted his experience, saying nothing has changed much in public hospitals in terms of security.
The 78-year-old who now lives in Worli said, "Most civic-run hospitals have switched to private security guards as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has failed to recruit sufficient security guards to meet the requirements of city hospitals."
Recently, Sion Hospital hired 40 private bouncers to protect its staff after repeated assualts on doctors by patient's kin, KEM hospital hired a private security agency and many other hospitals have followed suit.
"KEM is currently paying Rs 97 crore to the private agency. However the problem with private agencies is that they are grossly untrained. Hiring them will not solve any of the problems. Our training involved having a point-wise strategy, areas of concern within the hospital and being well-versed with all emergency numbers," said Sisodia, ex-vigilance officer of MCGM and a member of NV Merani committee.
Sisodia has recently written to Bombay High Court about the sorry state of security at BMC-run hospitals. "Recently the municipal corporation redirected 42 security guards from guarding Mumbai's pipeline to a hospital. How does that make sense? I have written to the chief justice of Bombay High Court about the sorry state of security in hospitals. The HC had also notified the municipal commissioner twice but there has been no response," said Sisodia.
Recalling that fateful day's events, Sisodia said he was in KEM Hospital's security office when he was informed at 8'clock about Shanbaug being found in the basement.
"Three months prior to the incident, I had notified both the matron and the hospital administration to assign two rooms for the non-resident staff to change in a safe environment. Additionally, there was a broken wall between the mezzanine and ground floor which was not in the line of sight for the watchman. But my suggestions were not acted upon. It pains me to say this, but if those instructions had been followed then Aruna Shanbaug might have been saved from the horror she suffered," said Sisodia.
After the incident, while the security at KEM was nearly doubled from 56 to 116 security guards, Sisodia was transferred to Nair hospital.