Security scene at Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar not very healthy

An official in charge of security said guards at the gates “are apprehensive” about approaching a mother with a crying baby.

The local police station, Tilak Nagar, now routinely patrols the streets around the hospital after having received several complaints of kidnapping of babies from the hospital. “There are about two or three guards at each gate and there are two gates mainly for entry of visitors and patients,” said a beat marshall posted near Rajawadi Hospital.

A senior police officer at Tilak Nagar police station also pointed out that the hospital has been advised to start a pass system for entry but it is yet to be done.

The civic body has hired a firm at Rs 97-crore for maintaining security of all BMC-run hospitals. According to existing norms, each guard has to work an eight-hour shift but information accessed by the Medical Association of Resident Doctors through the Right to information law revealed that the guards work for 16 hours at a stretch sometimes. “The appointed guard must have training in security for at least six months. Here we found out that they have received no hands-on training,” said Dr Sagar Mundada, president of MARD.