Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant on Thursday wrote to the principal secretary, health & family welfare with a set of directions regarding the safety and security of healthcare professionals and the “efficient functioning of the health system in the state”.
The missive came a day after the junior doctors protesting in front of Swasthya Bhawan met the chief secretary on their unfulfilled demands.
According to the chief secretary’s letter, the following directives were issued for ensuring safety, security and efficient functioning of all healthcare professionals “with overall objectives to deliver better healthcare services to all citizens of the State”.
The letter said: “Adequate availability of On Duty Rooms, Washrooms, CCTVs, Drinking Water Facilities should be ensured in the healthcare facilities. Works in this connection must be completed as early as possible. All medical colleges and hospitals and other health care institutions must be advised to ensure implementation of these measures in consultation with all stakeholders.”
The Bengal government has appointed retired IPS officer Surajit Kar Purkayastha, a former state director-general of police, for security audit of all medical colleges and hospitals, the letter informed.
“All committees including internal complaints committee should be made fully functional by the department,” the letter instructed.
On security personnel at hospitals, the letter said: “It should be ensured that adequate number of police/security personnel along with female police/security personnel are deployed in every healthcare facility in consultation with Home Department. It should also be ensured that mobile teams are deployed by local police authorities for surveillance specially during night hours.”
The chief secretary said that the centralised helpline number should be implemented for ensuring safety and security of healthcare personnels. “Such helplines should also be made available in every healthcare facility as early as possible,” the letter said.
A panic call button alarm system along with access control systems should be made
operational in every healthcare facility “as early as possible,” according to the chief secretary’s letter.
A centrally monitored real-time bed availability information system “must be operationalized in all the Government facilities. Bed availability information should also be digitally displayed for benefit of public in every healthcare facility at a prominent place,” the letter instructed.
Similarly, a centralised referral system “should be operationalized as early as possible,” the letter said.
The chief secretary ordered that “immediate steps should be taken for filling up of vacant posts of doctors, nurses, GDAs technicians etc,” and that “a robust grievance redressal system [sic] should be developed to address promptly the grievances and complaints of all the stakeholders including patient & patient parties.“
All these directions, the chief secretary’s letter said, “must be implemented immediately and progress regarding the implementation of the above directions must be informed to State Level Task Force.”
The removal of the health secretary and an end to “threat culture” were among the five demands made by the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, which has been spearheading the movement against the state government and refused to resume duty at the medical colleges since the rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
On Wednesday, representatives of the doctors met chief secretary Pant, acting DGP Rajiv Kumar, home secretary Nandini Chakravarty, Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma and ADG law and order Jawed Shamim.
In the copy of the minutes of the meeting – that The Telegraph Online has seen – that the junior doctors did not sign, both sides appeared to be on the same page on most of the demands, except on the end to threat culture and the demand to sack the health secretary.
