It seems that the recent terror attacks in country’s financial capital, Mumbai, have awakened the West Bengal government. The state government has decided to brace up the security arrangements in the city-based medical college and hospitals.

After visiting the SSKM Hospital recently, state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen held a meeting with senior police officers and health department officials to sketch the security needs. The government has decided to have armed guards to man the wards of some premier city hospitals.

Commenting over the security arrangements, Sen said, "Though there is a police picket inside SSKM and the hospital authorities said crimes like burglaries in the compound have decreased, there is an urgent need to increase the number of both private security guards and armed police personnel in the premises, considering the recent Mumbai terror attacks.”

Speaking on this, SSKM medical superintendent Professor Ashok Kumar Ghosh said, “There are various proposals to upgrade the security system of state-run hospitals. One of these is to place armed guards or policemen at the various wards.”

Ghosh said that currently, all five state hospitals SSKM, Medical College Hospital, NRS Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital and R G Kar Medical College and Hospital have police outposts inside as well as private security guards.

However, most of the authorities feel the other way. According to them arranging foolproof security for the healthcare establishments would be impossible unless the entry of relatives in the hospital wards is restricted. It may be here recalled that the two green cards are issued to the relatives of a patient admitted in a medical college. While the hospitals permits one green card holder to stay inside the ward at night, while the other card holder can stay inside the hospital premises.

A city-based medical college official believe that these card holders could prove to be potential security threats for the healthcare establishments as the cards do not carry photo identities. The official also claimed that keeping a record of the relatives of each patient is practically not possible as everyday a large number of patients are admitted in all these medical colleges.