Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences

A proposed security infrastructure upgrade at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) would soon make it safer for patients.

The heath hub administration has decided to install as many as 50 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras within a month-and-a-half.

The CCTV cameras would help check the role of middlemen on the premises of the health hub who persuade people to take their patients to private clinics or nursing homes in the greed of pocketing hefty commission.

Among government hospitals, only Patna Medical College and Hospital and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital have CCTV cameras.

IGIMS director Arun Kumar told The Telegraph that tenders for installation of the CCTV cameras on the hospital campus have been floated.

“Our security personnel at the hospital are inadequate to keep tabs on the middlemen who take patients to private hospitals by assuring treatment at rates cheaper than that at IGIMS. Patients from remote villages are unable to understand the actual intention of middlemen and get trapped easily. I have received reports about the middlemen’s activities on the hospital campus. But it is not possible for us to track them in the absence of proper security measures. Therefore, we would install CCTV cameras to help strengthen the security infrastructure at our hospital,” the health hub director said.

He added that a few days ago, he handed over three middlemen, who were trying to take patients to private hospitals from IGIMS, to the police.

The health hub director said: “At least 50 CCTV cameras would be installed at around Rs 10 lakh to cover most parts of the hospital — the wards, laboratories and parking lot. One monitor would be installed at the office of each departmental head apart from a central monitor in my office. The number of CCTVs might be increased subsequently.”