Rs 388 Cr spent annually on security of State hospitals

A big question mark looms over the availability of doctors, paramedics, equipment, and medicines at the state-run hospitals but when it comes to providing them a security cover, the government seems liberal. A whopping amount of Rs 388 Cr is being spent annually on the security of the hospitals which comes to around Rs 32 Cr per month. 

The reasoning for such a huge spend on security is being given as the hospitals have a huge area, there are incidents of baby thefts and public outrage, attacks on government doctors and other staffers. 

The state runs two types of hospitals- the hospitals run by the public health department which comprise roughly 502 hospitals that include district hospitals, sub-district hospitals, and rural hospitals, etc. The Department of Medical Education, on the other hand, runs 19 Medical Colleges, 3 Dental Colleges, and 3 Ayurveda Colleges. At least 23 hospitals are attached to these colleges. 

Over 2,000 security guards have been deployed to provide security cover to 502 hospitals run by the public health department. Each security personnel is paid Rs 25,000 per month which comes to around Rs 5 crore 8 lakhs per month i.e., Rs 61 crore per year.

The Department of Medical Education has deployed three types of security arrangements for their hospitals across the state. Hospitals such as the Sir JJ, St George, GT, Poddar hospitals in Mumbai, and Sassoon in Pune are managed by the department. For all of the 23 hospitals, Rs 27.24 crore is being spent every month, say government figures.

The government hospitals face several issues- right from the paucity of funds, shortage of manpower, unavailability of essential medicines, etc which seriously affects the quality of services for the benefit of patients who come mostly from deprived sections of society. This results into public anger and outburst that leads to untoward incidents in public hospitals. Instead of making efforts to resolve the issues that plague the quality of services, huge funds are being stashed away on providing security. 

Some of the hospitals such as Sir J J, St. George in Mumbai, or Sassoon in Pune where VVIPs frequently pay visits, are known for comparatively better facilities than the other state-run hospitals. But those are mostly overburdened as patients from far-off areas throng these hospitals hoping for better treatment. This adds huge strain over the existing infrastructure which results in chaotic scenes. 

Looking at the issues faced by the state hospitals, patients are now availing benefits under Mahatma Phule Jan Aarogya Yojana for the treatment of serious ailments in privately run hospitals. For this, funds worth crores of rupees are spent from the state treasury every year. 

Worse, the state government is generously spending crores of rupees on security cover without even considering it on a case-to-case basis. A large number of hospitals are from far-off rural areas and whether they need security cover or not can be a big issue. In short, if the same amount is given to each hospital instead of the cost of security guards, it can directly benefit the patients. But who is going to take the initiative, is a big question.