Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Security lax in government hospitals

— PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

easy access: There is hardly any visible security outside the Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: No doubt, they are the biggest government hospitals in the State. But the Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad and the Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad also have the dubious distinction of being without any security systems!

Safety of patients, their attendants and staff of the hospitals came under scrutiny as hospitals were also targeted during the serial blasts triggered at Ahmedabad city in Gujarat three days ago. That naturally raised the question –how safe are the hospitals in the State capital that had already witnessed three major terror strikes earlier.

Except the scattered private guards, there is absolutely no security or access control system at both the hospitals that are thronged by thousands of patients every day. Any person can walk or drive in. None is there to stop the strangers or persons planning sabotage. Only the workers hired by the parking lot contractor would stop the vehicles at Gandhi hospital.

They too would let in anyone paying five rupees to ten rupees depending on the vehicle. Once a person crosses the parking lot worker, there is no access control system on the hospital premises. Any person can enter the Emergency and Out-Patient blocks any time. These two and the maternity ward are highly crowded places in Gandhi Hospital.

At the OGH, things are worse. It is located on the bustling Afzalgunj-Begumbazar road. The gate at the old morgue building is closed to vehicles but is partially left open for pedestrians to walk in. The main gate on Begumbazar side is always crowded. People drive in vehicles and park at their will.

The parking lot contractor would come running the moment a vehicle comes in but becomes silent once the vehicle driver gives the money. Unlike the Gandhi hospital located on spacious premises spread over several acres, every part of the OGH is almost crammed. Though a police out-post was set up at the main gate, it is confined to noting down numbers of the vehicles coming in and going out.

All that the private security guards do is prevent too many attendants accompanying a single patient. The out-patient block would be flooded by patients in the morning hours. No door-frame metal detectors or other security equipment is used to screen persons coming inside making it a vulnerable spot from security point of view.

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