What chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at the 90-minute meeting with junior doctors at Nabanna on Monday afternoon

Emergency entry

I was telling something to Rajiva (state health secretary Rajiva Sinha). Wherever there is an emergency ward, I think we can install a collapsible gate. Several people accompany a patient. They can get hold of doctors and cops. Therefore, they face the heat. What if we set up collapsible gates at all emergency wards and allow only two persons with a patient inside. They have to buy medicines, collect blood and communicate (with the doctors). Often, you don’t get an ayah and these things are done by relatives. I think you should make a package under which all district hospitals and medical colleges will have collapsible gates at emergency wards.

Communication

I would like to add another thing here. I think, often, there is a problem in communicating a patient’s death or about how severe a patient’s condition is to relatives. That leads to agitation. What if a public relations (unit) is kept at the medical colleges and the state hospitals in all three shifts to convey these messages (to the relatives)? They will inform the relatives about the patient’s condition. They will convey to relatives news of a patient’s death. They have to be well-behaved. It’s difficult to remain calm after a death. A doctor has to see patients continuously. They are busy. It is not possible for them to communicate these things properly. See whether a third person can be involved in this....

Dedicated officer

Appoint a nodal (police) officer whose sole job will be to take care of hospitals (in Calcutta). The police in the districts will do the same for district hospitals. One officer dedicated to hospitals. Because police have a lot of things to do. It is not possible for the same officer to do everything.

Don’t fight, complain

Visibility of the grievance cell should be increased. Often, offices under the stairs go unnoticed. This provision is there at the private hospitals.... Hence they are not only being able to improve their services but are also providing compensation. This needs to be implemented (in state hospitals). A grievance cell should be set up and it should be visible to the people, so that instead of fighting with the doctor, they can go to the cell. You need to set this up at prominent spots and put up a board, which states it clearly, in big words. And it should be in English, Hindi and Bengali.

Abuse, but work

We will have to ensure that assaults do not happen. Such incidents should not take place. But if they do, immediate action has to be taken. It is nothing new. I have told several times before.... I have one request. You can abuse and misunderstand me and my government as much you want. But please join work as soon as possible. The sooner you get back to work, the earlier I can go and meet him (Paribaha Mukhopadhyay, one of the two assaulted interns at NRS).

Prodded by the chief minister, health secretary Sinha detailed the security overhaul plans at state hospitals in keeping with the junior doctors’ demands. Excerpts from what he said:

Two-tier shield

One tier of security is provided by the police and the other by hired guards. From now, we have decided to hire only highly trained personnel. We will identify the hospitals that need special protection and employ the (trained) guards there. I have talked to the CP (commissioner of police) and the DCPs (deputy commissioners) and we have come to a decision that there needs to be a fully functional relationship between these two sets of security. We are looking into the matter.

Tab on patient kin

Patient appointments and bookings will be made online and an identification number will be given. This has been started in some hospitals and will soon be fully functional. The chief minister said this will be a point of cross-check to avoid entry of people who are not supposed to be there. Also, many people come from outside and are not familiar with the language and this will help them.