At a time when incidents of assaults on doctors, at both government and private hospitals, are on the rise, and when patient safety is a major concern, two major government-run hospitals in the city are operating without police stations on their premises.
The Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital and Victoria Hospital that are affiliated to the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), used to have separate police stations. However, during the reorganisation of the jurisdiction of police stations, the hospitals have been brought within the ambit of the nearest station.
This development is a cause for concern for the hospitals’ administration and doctors. Both the hospitals are located in communally sensitive areas in the city that are also predominantly business areas. Moreover, the hospitals have mortuaries and need policemen to complete the formalities for every post-mortem.
Spread across 13.5 acres, the 1,050-bed Bowring Hospital caters to nearly 2,000 outpatients every day. It also houses the special women’s cell for rape and sexual assault cases. After the police station on the hospital premises was wrapped up in January, the women’s cell, which is supposed to have a police help desk to assist victims of violence (rape, sexual harassment, dowry harassment and domestic violence) in filing FIRs and providing legal assistance, is now without any staff.
K.S. Manjunath, Bowring Hospital Medical Superintendent, said there is a dire need of a police station on the premises. “We cannot keep sending every case to the Commercial Street police station. Surrounded by Russell Market and Shivajinagar bus stand, there is every possibility of anti-social elements being active on the hospital campus. We need a constant vigil to ensure that the hospital, patients and doctors are protected,” the doctor said.
The doctor recalled two incidents, one in 2008 when doctors were attacked by an irate mob following rumours of children falling sick after they were administered polio drops, and in 2015 when a three-day-old male baby was stolen from the hospital.
Sachidananda S., Dean and Director, BMCRI, who is also the Director Medical Education, said the Victoria Hospital campus houses Vani Vilas Hospital, Institute of Nephro Urology, PMSSY and Trauma Care Centre, apart from the Mahabodhi Burns ward. “We get hundreds of medico-legal cases, apart from burns and poison cases, that need police intervention; a station is a must,” he said.
Both hospitals have written to the Home and Medical Education Secretaries stressing upon the need to re-establish the police stations. Sharan Prakash R. Patil, Medical Education Minister, said he would look into it.
A top official in Commercial Street police station said although the Bowring Hospital police station was now attached to Commercial Street station, at least five policemen were being posted in the hospital. Sharanapa, DCP South, said there were very few cases registered in Victoria Hospital police station compared to other stations. That is why the station was reorganised and attached to K.R. Market police station.
