Hospital campus crimes: What will it take to make them safe?

MUMBAI: The brutal sexual assault and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in R G Kar Hospital, Kolkata earlier this month, has among other things, raised the concern of lack of stringent campus safety laws in medical colleges.

India’s public hospital and medical college campuses are known to be rife with crimes such as motor vehicle thefts, robberies, scuffles, assaults and unauthorised intrusions. Three months ago, CCTV footage captured an intruder entering the eighth floor of the Mumbai’s BYL Nair Hospital building, designated as women’s hostel, and fleeing with a mobile phone from one of the rooms. In another incident, a resident doctor, busy attending to patients at the hospital’s OPD, realized that her backpack had been stolen.

In November, 2023, two motorcycles belonging to resident doctors were stolen from the Government Medical College campus in Nagpur. Around the same time, a young female doctor reported being inappropriately touched near the dimly lit girls’ hostel within the 196-acre campus.

A few years ago, the former dean of the state-run Sir JJ Hospital, Mumbai, took it upon himself to conduct night rounds on the 42-acre Byculla campus to address the growing issue of alcoholics and drug addicts finding secluded spots within the premises.

So why is safety on these campuses compromised?

People in the know list three challenges: the vastness of the campuses make it difficult to have adequate security cover, the casual approach of the security personnel towards their duty and a lack of dedicated administrators to oversee day-to-day security. Doctors say these petty crimes establish a pattern of lax security that eventually leads to more serious incidents, such as the one involving the trainee doctor at the Kolkata hospital.

Dr Pratik Debaje, president of the Maharashtra State Association of Resident Doctors (Central-MARD), said: “Since 2023, we have recorded 13 violent attacks on doctors in Maharashtra alone. We don’t keep a count of other small crimes that expose security lapses on our campuses, but thefts of mobiles, laptops, wallets, bags, and other valuables are everyday occurrences. One of the biggest security issues is created by intruders who wander around hospital and college premises.”

Securing vast areas

Public hospital campuses often cover enormous areas that include hospital and college buildings, hostels and staff quarters. “At any given time, there are over 25,000 people in these premises, including doctors, inpatients, outpatients and relatives,” said Dr Avinash Supe, former dean of Mumbai’s KEM Hospital. “Given that most of these campuses are very old, there are multiple gates to the buildings, unlike private hospitals that are spread over an acre or two and have only one or two entry and exit points,” he said.

For instance, the main campus of KEM Hospital, spread over 15 acres, has more than four gates, and houses the old and new wings of the hospital, staff quarters, nurses’ quarters and hostels. Another section of the campus, across the road, houses the cardiovascular and thoracic department.

“Stringent filtering must begin at the main entry gate itself, but the reality is that anyone can simply enter public hospital premises without any real purpose,” said Dr Aishwarya Jamnare, a second-year resident at BYL Nair Hospital.

Once inside the premises, individuals gain access to all areas, thereby increasing security challenges. This contrasts with many private hospitals, which often have a strict pass system that limits access.

Casual attitude of security staff

Consider this: The Central MARD data reveals 29 state-run hospitals have 3,241 security personnel. “Given the daily footfall and the areas that need to be covered, we need at least 6,000 security personnel on the ground,” said Dr Debaje, underlining the significant shortfall.

Most of these personnel deployed are often found to be lax in carrying out their duties. “The guards posted in most public hospitals come across as casual, untrained, and lacking alertness,” said a senior doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There have also been incidents of corruption, where guards take small bribes to allow unauthorised parking on the campuses. The hospital faculty has long been at odds with the administration over these issues, as they are serious security lapses,” he said.

When resident doctors in Mumbai resumed duty following a 10-day strike to demand justice for the deceased doctor at R G Kar Hospital, they demanded enhanced and visible patrolling on campus, portable police chowkies within medical facilities, comprehensive audits to identify blind spots, stricter implementation of a pass system allowing only two relatives per patient, an increase in the number of CCTVs and their timely maintenance, control rooms, and a central alarm system.

Administration’s laxity

There are set hierarchies of security personnel reporting to supervisors and finally the dean. Herein lies the problem – an already overburdened dean is tasked with yet another responsibility. “Public institutions should tweak responsibilities by designating deans as academic heads and creating hospital administrators to manage security, crowd control and other day-to-day activities,” said Dr Gautam Bhansali, a physician at Bombay Hospital and advisor to the Association of Medical Consultants. “Most private institutions follow such systems.”

Civic-run hospitals in Mumbai created the post of executive administrator in September 2023. The incumbent would support deans with matters such as dealing with unions, keeping track of tenders, security and crowd management. “The dean certainly has many responsibilities, but there are existing hierarchies and positions to support them,” said Dr Neelam Andrade, director of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) medical education and major hospitals. “The newly added executive administrator’s post is only a year old and will gradually be strengthened,” she said.

Reporting crime on campus

While doctors’ organisations in the state have called for a Central Protection Act to prevent violence against medical professionals, there is also a need to view the Kolkata rape and murder as a campus crime.

In 1986, Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old student at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University, was brutally raped and murdered in her dorm room. Her death led her parents, Connie and Howard, to campaign against the lax campus security they believed contributed to the crime. They argued that if they had known about Lehigh University’s past crime statistics, they would not have sent their daughter there. The Clery family’s efforts eventually resulted in the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act, a US federal law.

The law mandates that colleges and universities maintain daily crime logs, produce annual crime reports, support victims of violence and publicly disclose policies and put measures in place to improve campus safety.

Experts in the US have now called for reforms to the landmark Act – they maintain it is only symbolic and does little to improve security on ground. Many however agree that the Act raised much-needed awareness about the prevalence of violent crimes on campuses.

“If such a law were mandated for Indian hospitals and medical college campuses, it would definitely expose the enormity of everyday crimes in these premises and hopefully bring some accountability,” said Dr Debaje. “If implemented stringently, such a law would definitely make a difference.”

However, it is often the failure to sustain the strict implementation of policies that creates security gaps. “Our institutions have active committees to prevent sexual harassment and ragging, but most of them come into action only after a crime has occurred, and we usually become aware of incidents only when one of the case blows up,” said Dr Jamnare. “Imagine what a big help it could be if parents and students really had access to publicly disclosed data on the crimes taking place on a campus.”