Kolkata hospital horror: Why CISF has been asked to secure RG Kar hospital premises
Times of India | 23 August 2024
The CISF personnel will make their presence felt at the entrance and on the hospital campus KOLKATA: Officers at the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have a very different mandate at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) than the other facilities where they are deployed.
Officers said the force that manages access control at airports, nuclear installations and public sector units in the country would play a very different role at RG Kar.They will make their presence felt at the entrance and on the campus to act as a deterrent against violence by agitated patient relatives and mischief mongers.
A security expert said among various paramilitary forces, CISF was best placed to be deployed at a hospital, given the soft skill training that its personnel receive from the beginning as they have to deal with common people and not infiltrators or terrorists or insurgents.
“Even at the airport, while preventing hijacking is a key objective, we don’t treat passengers as potential hijackers,” he explained.
Apart from checking credentials, conducting baggage scans and frisking flyers, CISF personnel in plainclothes also carry out surveillance and profiling of passengers in the terminal to spot those behaving suspiciously.
In Delhi Metro, where over 12,000 personnel are deployed, CISF monitors door-frame metal detectors through which passengers pass, scan their bags and prevent any attack or sabotage; its presence also ensures that women feel secure.
The mandate at Indian Museum and Victoria Memorial Hall is different: access control as well as prevention of the smuggling out of artefacts. The mandate at PSUs is to prevent theft. At nuclear facilities, it is access control as well as security.
At the hospital, CISF personnel do not intend to act as a barrier between people arriving from all walks of life, many of them ailing. “ Those who access RGKMCH may not carry ID cards. Also, ambulances, cabs and private cars constantly access the hospital.
The access control at the entrance may be restricted to stopping inebriated or unruly people. But the primary task will be to lend weight to the security through its presence and be prepared to combat any violent situation,” an officer said.