No check on thefts at Civil Hospital

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 22

Theft incidents continue to haunt the Civil Hospital authorities. After X-ray films now, stamps have been stolen from the Civil Hospital. One wall of the hospital near mortuary collapsed sometime back. It gave an easy access to miscreants to the hospital.

The instances of pick pocketing and thefts are a common on the Civil Hospital campus. The hospital authorities need to tighten security and also install more CCTV cameras to avoid such incidents.

Out of the three stamps stolen from the Civil Hospital, one belongs to surgeon, Dr Milan Verma. Stamps were stolen from the Out Patient Department (OPD) room No. 103.

One stamp is used on forms of Amarnath yatris, another stamp is used for getting the tests done before operation and the third stamp is in the name of the doctor. These stamps can be misused by anyone.

The Division No. 2 police have booked unknown persons for stealing three official stamps from the hospital. It has come forth that earlier too stamps from the rooms of two doctors were stolen. Few days back, cash from the purse of an emergency medical officer was stolen.

Meanwhile, in January nearly hundreds of hard copies of the X-ray films were stolen from the hospital. These X-ray films were related to the medico-legal cases. It could have also resulted in hampering progress of some cases. 

Cases of cycle theft or pick pocketing are also common at the Civil Hospital.Senior medical officer (SMO), Dr Geeta, lodged a complaint with the police in this regard. 

Earlier, the SMO had said that the entire security system around the hospital needs to be upgraded and more CCTV cameras were required on the campus. 

Due to the paucity of funds, the hospital is waiting for a club or an NGO to donate CCTV cameras to the hospital.