Howrah State General Hospital: Free and easy access for all. A Telegraph picture

Anyone can walk into Howrah State General Hospital and walk out with whatever he chooses to. It may be true of other state-run hospitals, too, but nowhere does it seem as easy as in the Howrah facility.

The situation, which the authorities admit is ?dangerous?, has been continuing for the past three months ? the duration the hospital has been left unguarded.

?The last security agency was sacked some three months ago, as it proved very inefficient,? said hospital superintendent S. Chakraborty. ?We have informed the health department that the hospital is without any guard for the third consecutive month in January.?

While the superintendent reacted cautiously, perhaps because too adverse a comment could trigger a major controversy, other senior officials gave a free vent to their ire.

?There is no one on the premises to prevent an outsider from walking away with the costly equipment,? said a senior official. ?Despite repeated requests, the state health department is not taking any step to expedite the process of floating a tender for recruiting another agency. We are spending sleepless nights.?

The hospital has two main entrances and another two gates and all four require round-the-clock vigil by trained personnel. A minimum of 10 guards are required.

?We have drafted some of our employees to man the gates as a contingency measure,? Chakraborty pointed out. But an official alleged that the men neither have the expertise nor time for the job.

?Ideally, the guards should be ex-servicemen. What our authorities are doing is reasonable, but this cannot continue for long,? he added.

In the first week of January, an aged indoor patient had walked out as she found the stay ?uncomfortable?. She was traced and brought back, but only after the hospital authorities approached police and registered a missing persons diary.

?We are lucky only one patient had left unnoticed. Even if all patients walk out together, we won?t be able to know,? the official said.

According to district chief medical officer (health) S. Saha, a security agency will be hired for the hospital at the earliest. ?The health department cannot be blamed for the situation. We have to follow a process and that may take some time.?