Patna, March 4: The bomb attack on a Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) employee this morning barely a few metres away from the health hub at Agamkuan again sparked speculation over the safety and security at the medical colleges in the city.

The doctors and the employees of both NMCH and Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) rued that the administration had completely failed to provide them with adequate security.

“The incident once again goes to show how vulnerable medical and non-medical employees of the hospital are. There is hardly any security in the hospital barring a few security guards. The ones who have been deputed as the security guards are hardly efficient and are of no use during adverse situations. We have been demanding deployment of at least 16 cops, including an officer-in-charge, instead of security guards at the hospital, but nothing has been done so far,” said Dr Zishan Ahmad, the spokesperson of Junior Doctors’ Association at NMCH.

He recalled, on December 31 last year, two armed assailants snatched a bike from a medic just outside the campus at gunpoint because no security guard or policeman was stationed at the main gate of the hospital. Prior to that, on October 17 last year, junior doctors of the hospital had refused to admit patients after attendants of a patient allegedly attacked a doctor and two interns. Ahmad recalled that the rampaging attendants destroyed hospital property and beat up doctors for no reasons. But there was no stopping them because there was no protection.

PMCH doctors, especially junior medics, have been demanding a proper security system in place at the hospital and immediate implementation of the Medical Practitioners’ Protection Act (MPPA).

“We are the ones who look after patients in hospitals and the grieving and agonised relatives find it easy to vent their anger on us. We are often subjected to abuse and manhandling just because they are dissatisfied,” said a junior doctor at NMCH.

“It is no secret that the availability of resources and logistics is not adequate and it leaves much to be desired. However, the patients and their relatives often hold us responsible if anything goes wrong or if they are not satisfied with our services. MPPA will at least create a sense of fear among those and they will think twice before attacking a medical practitioner,” the junior doctor added.

Senior doctors at the premier health institute echoed the sentiments expressed by their junior colleagues. “The state government just does not stop talking about the improvement it has brought in the health services but those coming to the hospitals know the ground reality,” a senior doctor in gynaecology and obstetrics department of PMCH told The Telegraph.

“On top of that, the number of incidents of doctors being targeted are increasing by the day and it clearly shows how vulnerable they have become. But the government does not appear to be really disturbed by all these. Nobody is talking about any concrete step to enhance the security at the medical colleges where these kinds of incidents are on the rise,” the PMCH doctor added.