The AIIMS Delhi administration on Wednesday (August 21) asked the striking resident doctors to resume duty in the interest of patient care, saying a collaborative internal security audit would be conducted to assess safety and security measures at the campus.
Two committees have also been formed by the administration to look into security issues at the institute and other concerns of doctors.
Also Read:Kolkata doctor murder case LIVE updates
Resident doctors of AIIMS have gone on strike demanding a central law to protect health workers after the alleged rape and murder of female doctors trained at the state-run medical college and hospital in Kolkata.
Apart from the security audit, the AIIMS administration has also decided to install Al-enabled CCTV cameras at the main entry and exit points of the Mother and Child Block on a pilot basis.
The camera should be able to identify all visitors with facial recognition technology and will help the security staff to identify people who frequent the entrance and exit, thus helping them to access unauthorized personnel control.
Director of AIIMS Dr. V. Srinivas said that the entire AIIMS family is responsible for the safety of all healthcare professionals in major hospitals and across the country.
“However, as doctors, our main duty is also to ensure that the patients who visit our portal are not taken care of,” he said in the appeal document.
Mr. Srinivas said that the administration has decided to conduct a collaborative internal security audit at AIIMS, New Delhi on the safety and security of health professionals, staff, patients and visitors and to facilitate it, a 15-member committee has been formed. .
The committee will be chaired by Dr Puneet Kaur, Head of Department of Biophysics. There were representatives from FAIIMS, Resident Doctors Association, Students Union, Nurses Union and Young Scientists Society among others on the panel.
The committee will visit AIIMS campuses, including outreach campuses like NCI Jhajjar, Haryana, NDDTC Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, CRHSP Ballabgarh, Haryana, etc. during the day and night and measure the security of the survey, he said.
The committee will also consider the additional safety and security measures required in the AIIMS campus and submit the earliest recommendations for their speedy implementation.
“The Indian government is committed to the cause of the safety of health professionals ‘unequivocally and the Supreme Court, while guaranteeing affirmative action to ensure the safety of health professionals, has asked all doctors to continue their duties in the interest of patient care,” he said.
“Requesting the resident doctors of AIIMS New Delhi to resume their duties so that patient care services are normalized,” he said.
To solve the problems directly from health professionals from other institutes four committee members, including the Dean (Academic), Dean (Research), Medical Superintendent and Chief Security Officer have been created.
Apart from this, the office order said that the Director of AIIMS has made several rounds of the hospital campus and noted that often there are outsiders entering and exiting various buildings under the guise of patient attendants, delivery agents, etc. people who are touts or impersonators often visit the campus.
The security staff has also expressed difficulty in identifying frequent visitors because they are on shift duty and it is not possible to increase suspicion as too much leads to discomfort for original visitors and patient attendants.
There are news reports of other important hospitals where such unauthorized personnel even cause harm to patients and there are also reports of patients sometimes getting lost and running away in AIIMS as well.
“It has been decided to install Al-active CCTV cameras at the entry and exit points of the Mother and Child Block on a pilot basis. People often enter and exit, thus helping them access unauthorized personnel control,” the order said.
Resident doctors will stage a protest at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, the 10th day of the indefinite strike over allegations of rape and murder of doctors in a Kolkata hospital.
Elective services in several government hospitals across the city remained suspended due to the protests.
AIIMS, GTB, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospitals, Maulana Azad Medical College and associated hospitals have issued individual statements calling for their participation in the silent protest.
Members of the Resident Doctors Association of major hospitals in Delhi, along with the Federation of Resident Doctors Associations (FORDA) and the Federation of Indian Medical Associations (FAIMA), have gone on an indefinite strike.
The body of a postgraduate trainee doctor was found in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. A civilian volunteer was arrested for the crime the following day.
The Calcutta High Court later handed over the case to the CBI.
