With increasing incidents of patients' relatives assaulting doctors, the resident doctors at Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run LTMG Sion hospital have designed a unique plan for their safety. The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) representatives in the hospital have asked for a rapid action force that would comprise security guards and bouncers. The team's work will be divided into three shifts and the guards would be only a phone call away for all the resident doctors.
The hospital administration has given its green signal to this proposal.
Dr Arun Jaiswani, general secretary, Sion-MARD, said: "We will have a rapid action force that will consist of 15 security guards, including private bouncers. We will select well-built bouncers for this task."
He added that MARD will divide the team of guards into three groups. "They will have three shifts and will be assigned a room near the casualty area," Jaiswani said.
MARD also plans to have a helpline number that will be provided to the rapid action force. "This number will be circulated to all the resident doctors. During the admission of a patient, if a resident doctor feels something is amiss or experiences rude behaviour, he or she can call up the security helpline for help," Jaiswani said.
MARD's decision came after a first-year resident doctor was manhandled by a deceased patient's relatives at LTMG-Sion hospital on April 2. According to MARD, Dr Nihar Desai, the resident doctor concerned, was surrounded by a mob of 10 to 15 people after the patient died.
"We have been requesting the administration for extra security. The other day, we submitted the proposal for the rapid action force, which was accepted," Jaiswani said.
After the incident on April 2, the BMC had hired 10 private security guards for its tertiary care hospitals.
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