The Bombay High Court said there should be more police personnel at government-run hospitals to provide security to resident doctors who often become target of attacks by kin of patients.
A division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka, which was hearing a PIL, said there should be at least two armed and two unarmed policemen at the hospitals.
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.
But the HC said there should be at least four policemen as the police presence should be felt by the people.
As per the affidavit submitted by the government, J J Hospital, Sion hospital, St George’s Hospital, G T Hospital and Nair Hospital in the city have two policemen each. The KEM Hospital,has four police personnel.
“This means there is a lack of security and doctors are attacked because of this. If this is the situation in Mumbai, then it would be worse in rest of Maharashtra. If something is not done immediately, then we will direct the Mumbai Police Commissioner to increase police deployment,” the court said.
The AG said the government would consider the suggestion.
Adjourning the hearing to next week, the HC asked the government to inform about the exact number of policemen it proposes to post at the hospitals.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Afak Mandaviya about frequent strikes of doctors at government-run hospitals. Most of the times, attacks on resident doctors by disgruntled relatives of the patients prompt these strikes.
