The Bengal government is yet to install the required number of CCTV cameras in the emergency building of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, where a junior doctor was raped and murdered a year ago.
The required approval from the health department for installing the cameras remained elusive, although the government had promised to bring all medical colleges and hospitals under tight surveillance.
Sources at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital said the emergency building — the place of occurrence of the heinous crime on August 9 last year — was still covered by 25 cameras, even though a proposal to install 295 more had been gathering dust since November last year.
A senior government official said the state had installed 532 CCTV cameras in most of the buildings at the R.G. Kar hospital for ₹3.5 crore soon after the incident had taken place last year.
“But CCTV cameras could not be installed in the emergency building and some other nearby buildings since approval from the CBI could not be received. The investigating agency had initially not given permission, as it was afraid that the crime scene would be tampered with. But the permission was later granted and a formal proposal was sent from the hospital to the health department for the installation of the cameras. The required approval has not come yet,” said an official.
According to a proposal endorsed by the medical superintendent and vice-principal of the medical college on November 12 last year, a total of 478 cameras were supposed to be installed in the buildings, including the emergency wing, where cameras could not be installed in the first phase.
According to the proposal, 295 cameras were supposed to be installed at the emergency building to cover the interior and exterior of the eight-storey structure, as 25 cameras were considered to
be insufficient.
“A sum of ₹2.45 crore was supposed to be spent to install 478 cameras in buildings like emergency, OPD, trauma care, surgery, cardiology and oncology. Unfortunately, the health department has yet to approve the project, even though a year has passed since the crime took place in the emergency building,” said
a source.
Many in the administration said that the authorities should have been more careful in handling the issue, as the government had promised to secure the workplace for the doctors in the aftermath of
the incident.
“The state might have installed CCTV cameras in every nook and corner of most of the healthcare establishments. However, if the place where the crime occurred is still not covered by the CCTV cameras, this does not send a positive message,” said
an official.
A senior official in the medical college said that the proposal could not be implemented because of the lackadaisical approach of the
health department.
“We have not been able to undertake any infrastructure upgrade in the emergency building where the seminar room or the crime scene is located, as the required approval from the state health department is yet to come. Even portions of the emergency building that were vandalised on the night of August 14 could not be restored,” said
the official.
“The CBI has told us that we can start the restoration of the emergency building. They told us only to keep the crime scene unaltered. But we have not received permission from the health department,” the official added.
N.S. Nigam, the state health secretary, said he was not aware of the proposal.
“I am not aware of this. We have installed CCTV cameras wherever required. And we will install more CCTV cameras if required.... If there is a requirement for more cameras, it must be somewhere in the implementation stage,” said the health secretary.