A man was arrested for trying to enter the female medicine ward at SSKM Hospital after the visiting hours on Thursday.
This incident once again lays bare the security lapses in the state’s premier government-run hospital, where a minor girl was sexually assaulted by a former Group D staff about a fortnight back.
An officer of Kolkata Police said the man, Ambar Roy Chowdhury, identified himself as an employee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and showed an identity card of the civic body while trying to enter the ward in the main block of the hospital.
When he was stopped, he turned abusive. The police said Roy Chowdhury was arrested but later obtained bail.
“He insulted the female nurses and doctors present there,” the police officer said, adding that a senior official of SSKM Hospital filed a police complaint.
The cops said the accused said he had a family member admitted there.
Nurses and others present there dialled senior officials of the hospital, who alerted the police outpost on the hospital premises. The cops arrived and picked up the man. He was taken to Bhowanipore police station and was arrested. Roy Chowdhury was also granted bail from the police station.
“I got a call yesterday from the on-duty nurses that a man suddenly entered the Cable ward, which is the female medicine ward, in the main building,” said an official.
“I asked the nurses if the person was drunk. They said they were not sure, but patients started to panic. There was chaos,” she said.
The incident once again raised questions about the security system in place at SSKM Hospital.
That an outsider managed to go up to the first floor of the main block, that too after the visiting hours, highlights gaps in security on the hospital premises.
“Guards are supposed to be there round the clock on the ground floor of the main block. They are supposed to check the visitor passes of everyone before allowing them inside the building,” said a former student of SSKM Hospital who is now a senior resident at another medical college hospital in the city.
On October 22, a 13-year-old girl at SSKM was allegedly raped by a former Group D staff from NRS Medical College and Hospital, who should not have been inside SSKM.
Several officials from government medical colleges and doctors had then said that measures like installing more CCTVs were undertaken after junior doctors’ protests last year, following the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. However, major security lapses continue to persist, they said.