Monday, 10 March 2014

Delhi hospital takes safety shot, hires bouncers


Pradeep Kumar, a muscular man in shades and tattoos, pulls up on a motorcycle, ready for his job as a bouncer. Not at a nightclub, but at another workplace: a hospital.
Working in a hospital can be dangerous. In April, a week before DDU hired the bouncers, friends of an emergency-room patient punched a doctor in the face and broke his nose before going on a rampage with hockey sticks, swinging at windows, lights, furniture and medical staff.
The medical staff at DDU, a government hospital, had faced nearly one attack a month and had gone on strike 20 times over six years demanding better security. Since the hospital replaced its middle-aged, pot-bellied guards with bar bouncers, bodyguards, and wrestlers sporting muscles and tattoos, "there hasn't been a single incident," said Dr. Nitin Seth, the doctor who was injured in April.
"These guys do a good job controlling the crowds," he said.

Security guard Amarjeet Singh helps a patient on a stretcher at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in Delhi. Singh and 20 other bouncers have been hired to protect doctors as well as keep the emergency and labor rooms from filling up with patients’ often agitated relatives and friends. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
Thousands of attacks occur in hospitals every year, said Dr. Narendra Saini, spokesman for the Indian Medical Association.
In January, a man in Chennai was charged with using a sword to hack to death a surgeon he held responsible for his pregnant wife's death during surgery. Three months later, a mob at a Delhi hospital beat up six doctors in retaliation for supposed sexual misconduct after the medical staff unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate a female patient using CPR.
When someone dies in the hospital, relatives often start blaming — even attacking — doctors. At expensive private hospitals, families feel especially cheated, Saini said. "They expect their patient to live because that's what they paid for."
The DDU Hospital guards, a team of 21 split across three shifts, cover the busiest areas of the campus, especially the emergency and labor rooms.

Singh gives directions to an incoming patient at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.(AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
People who come in with pregnant or trauma patients "are most likely to lose their cool," Kumar said. "That's why we try not to let in more than one per patient."
The only way to prevent a bad situation from getting worse is to keep people moving and not let crowds collect at all, said Dr. Promila Gupta, the hospital's medical superintendent. "I think what works for our new guards is that the (patients') relatives are afraid of them because of their good physique," she said.
Despite the tough image, Kumar and the other guards are a soft-spoken bunch. "We don't let anyone in unless they need to be there, and we know how to be polite about it," he said.
"First we talk nice," said bouncer Amarjeet Singh. "If they don't listen, troublemakers are taken to the Casualty Medical Officer's room to sort things out, and if that doesn't work, police from the nearby post are called in to get them evicted.
"In any case, we are not allowed to rough anyone up," he added.
Few hospitals can afford this kind of security. The generally overcrowded and understaffed government facilities often don't even have the resources they need to save lives, said Dr. Saini of the Indian Medical Association.
Dr. Prithvi Madhok, a former surgeon at some of Mumbai's top hospitals, has studied the rash of doctor assaults in India and said hiring better security will not solve the underlying problem.
"As a society, we are just not trained to be patient. We don't wait for our turn, or let things go through their due process," he said.

Bouncers in uniform stand guard at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.(AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
Madhok said patients or their attendants turn violent because they think they can get away with it. Attacking a doctor might be a serious crime, "but in my several years of practice, I have never seen anyone get booked for it," he said.
Seth, the DDU doctor, is glad that the new guards are serving as a deterrent.
"These guys save lives too," he said. "Just as doctors here are always ready to save a patient, these bouncers are here to save us doctors."

Source:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/delhi-hospital-takes-safety-shot-hires-bouncers/article1-927400.aspx

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Delhi most unsafe for women travellers: Survey

Delhi has been pegged as the most unsafe city in the country, for the second time in a row, by women travellers, a recent survey has found.

"Delhi retained its notorious reputation as the most unsafe city amongst the top 10 Indian cities polled with 95 per cent respondents expressing the opinion as opposed to 84 per cent in 2013" according to a survey by travel portal TripAdvisor.



Kolkata and Jaipur were ranked second and third most unsafe cities respectively with 64 per cent and 53 per cent votes each. 




Ahmedabad toppled Mumbai to be rated the safest city by 85 per cent of respondents even as Maharashtra and Gujarat were voted to be the safest states with 16 and 14 per cent votes each. Mumbai (72 per cent) dropped to the 5th spot this year from the number 1 position in 2013.

The survey also noted that it was surprising to find that only 16 per cent women use the women safety applications that are available.

"Whether travelling alone or in a group of women, majority of respondents preferred travelling to a city as it offered a higher sense of security, law and order. Hill stations and beaches were second and third choice respectively," the annual women traveller survey 2014 by the travel portal said.

The findings which come ahead of the International Women's day are based on information collected from 1068 women and are aimed at at understanding travel sentiment and preferences of Indian women with respect to leisure travel while travelling solo or as part of an all-women group.

47 per cent of the respondents said they took leisure trips as part of a group of women compared to 35 per cent who travelled solo in the last two years.

"43 per cent of respondents were between the age of 18 and 35 years and 27 per cent of them fell into the category between 35 to 45 years," Nikhil Ganju, country manager, TripAdvisor said






Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhi-most-unsafe-for-women-travellers-Survey/articleshow/31533806.cms