Union Home, Health Secretaries chair virtual meeting on enhancing safety for healthcare workers

NEW DELHI: Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra co-chaired a virtual meeting with Chief Secretaries and DGPs of States on Wednesday to discuss immediate steps needed to be taken for the safety and security of doctors and healthcare professionals in the backdrop of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata on August 9.

This came following the Supreme Court's order on August 22 to ensure certain basic measures to be put in place by the state governments and Union Territories pending receipt of the report of the National Task Force (NTF) to address the concerns of the doctors over their safety at their workplaces.

The meeting follows the first meeting of the National Task Force (NTF) under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary, held on Tuesday.

During the meeting, the Union Health Secretary encouraged the States to come up with innovative ideas and emphasized some of the immediate measures that can be considered to enhance security and provide a safer working environment for healthcare workers.

This includes a joint security audit along with the District Collector and DSP and management of district hospitals and medical colleges to review any shortfall in existing infrastructure and security arrangements and to take up remedial measures, along with security checks of all hired security and other services staff to be done regularly.

They also called for a control room, especially in large district hospitals and medical colleges, with a duty roaster of staff that regularly monitors CCTV and securely stores the data.

They also suggested mock drills for security personnel in case of fire, training of hired security personnel to upgrade their capacity, and a security and safety committee to be institutionalised and involve senior and junior residents and students for continuous monitoring of the situation and status of emergency response preparedness.

The committee also suggested routine security patrolling in all the hospital and medical college premises during the night.

The virtual meeting was followed by the first meeting of the National Task Force, which was set up following the Supreme Court under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary.

All members, including the Home Secretary and Health Secretary, were present at the meeting. Elaborate and detailed discussions were held on various issues by the NTF members where the members put forth their suggestions, as per a release by the Union Health Ministry.