Kolkata, Oct 25 The Mamata government has made police verification mandatory even for outsourced employees in the state-run medical establishments in West Bengal.
A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting chaired by the West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to review the safety and security measures in state-run medical establishments in the state.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also joined the meeting virtually and suggested mandatory police verification to check the records and credentials of the outsourced employees.
She also suggested that a check of the credentials of the agencies from where the outsourced employees are hired should also be a must, henceforth.
The meeting was convened amid the recent incidents like the molestation of a minor girl within the premises of state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College and Hospital in south Kolkata, the assaults on a woman junior doctor within another state-run hospital at Uluberia in Kolkata-adjacent Howrah district, and on a woman nursing staff within a primary health centre at Mohammad Bazar in Birbhum district.
The accused in the S.S.K.M. molestation case, Amit Mallick, who is an outsourced and contractual staff member with N.R.S. Medical College and Hospital and was also attached to S.S.K.M. earlier, had similar antecedents of inappropriate behaviour towards female patients.
"The Chief Minister expressed anguish over why the state government would have a bad name because one person with past antecedents managed to enter a state-run hospital. Thereafter, she suggested police verification for all outsourced employees already hired or to be hired in state-run medical establishments," said a state Health Department official present at the meeting.
She also said that the CCTV cameras installed at such medical establishments should be examined regularly, and any malfunctioning camera should be replaced immediately.
"The Chief Minister also stressed proper maintenance of the duty rosters of the staff, permanent or outsourced, of these medical establishments," the state Health Department said.
West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front (WBJDF), the umbrella body of the junior doctors spearheading the movement on the R.G Kar rape and murder issue last year, claimed that even after the R.G Kar tragedy, the state government promised to take several measures to strengthen the security arrangements in the medical establishments.
But in reality, nothing concrete was achieved, said a front office bearer.
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