Doctors and staff at city hospitals are a worried lot, but this time it is not due to aggression shown by patients and their attendants, or the long hours or even the back-breaking load of patients.
Petty crimes inside hospital premises are at an all-time high.
“Reports of petty thefts [stealing laptops, cell phones and cash from hospital premises], snatching and eve-teasing are reported from hospitals across the city every day. The problem is rampant and persistent,” said doctors, adding that the problem has become a “terrible nuisance”.
Earlier this week, the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) wrote to the Delhi Police and the institute’s security officer regarding the problem.
“While AIIMS is plagued by rising incidents of laptop thefts, equally concerning is the increasing number of mobile thefts reported on campus. We recently had three incidents of mobile theft reported by AIIMS employees... equal or more cases are going unreported and unregistered,” Jawahar Singh, a senior resident at AIIMS, said in the letter.
‘Frightening environment’
These incidents are creating a “frightening environment” for AIIMS doctors and staff, and people coming to the institute from all over the country for treatment, Dr. Singh added.
“Moreover, it has been observed that the police is not putting enough effort to curb such incidents,” noted the letter. The RDA has requested the police and AIIMS security staff to increase surveillance and patrolling on campus, and also look into the reported cases to prevent further “damage”.
The problem, however, is not confined to government hospitals alone.
Colonel (retired) M.S. Jaswal, additional director administration, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said: “In the last one year, due to alertness of security staff and round-the-clock monitoring by CCTV cameras, we have recovered ₹2.65 lakh, 170 mobile phones and 14 laptops. These were handed over to the rightful owners.”
“Our alert staff also caught 15 people for mobile theft and 10 for stealing other valuables. They were handed over to the police for further investigation,” he added.
Metal taps and window handles
Lok Nayak Hospital authorities said they face similar problems, with thieves taking away copper wires, metal taps, window handles and other items.
“This has a lot to do with drug addicts in the neighbourhood who routinely take away these items,” said a senior doctor from the hospital.
Doctors and staff at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital claimed that wallets, phones and laptops are routinely stolen from the out-patient department (OPD), doctors’ rooms and nursing stations.
“The medical staff is usually busy dealing with sick patients and is focussed on their work. Though lockers are provided in several hospitals, a lot of us keep our laptops, bags and other belongings in the duty room and ward stations. Nobody expects their belongings to be stolen from the very desk they work on,” said a doctor at RML Hospital.
Medical staff members at many hospitals complained that patients and their relatives stole items like “blankets, bedsheets and spoons”.
“We have had cases of ward boys and OPD attendants stealing stethoscopes, pens, pencils, phones and chargers from doctors’ room and OPD. Theft of mobiles is very common,” said a senior doctor who earlier worked at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences.
Cars and bikes stolen
Even cars and bikes belonging to the medical staff have been stolen from hospital premises, he added. “In government hospitals especially, we have outsiders coming in and using open spaces for drinking and causing trouble,” said the doctor.
Besides petty thefts, the institutes have also seen hospital goods worth crores go missing over the years.
“The police and hospital administrations routinely catch individuals and groups pilfering easily saleable surgical instruments and other such goods from government hospitals. The police said most of the incidents happened on weekends or a day before holidays between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m., and that involvement of hospital employees was found in the burglaries,” said a senior Delhi Health Department official.
