Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of theft incidents have shot up at the resident doctors' hostels of the premier medical college, King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital at Parel. Three theft cases have been reported this month so far in which six laptops including Macbooks and phones have been stolen. Medicos alleged that despite complaining, the hospital authority isn't taking adequate steps to provide security for preventing thefts.
According to the doctors, the first incident was reported on November 2 when a mobile was stolen in the Annexe hostel’s room number 26. After this incident, two more similar cases were reported on November 11 and 12 of room number 30 and 321 of the Annexe and RMO hostels respectively.
One of the resident doctors whose laptop was stolen said they were on COVID-19 duty when all the thefts were committed. Moreover, they are upset as their thesis was saved in the laptops and if they don’t get them back, they have to work on the thesis again. “We are working round-the-clock since the pandemic breakout and when we are going to rooms, our electronics items are found to be stolen which is more frustrating. We have filed First Investigation Report (FIR) and made complaints to the hospital authorities in this regard,” he said.
Another resident doctor said of the stolen goods, two were Macbooks which cost over Rs 1 lakh, one iPad and Dell laptop. “All these are very expensive electronics items which we can't afford to buy again," he said.
Due to the thefts in the hostel, students who had stored their thesis paper in their laptops have lost it and it can make them disqualified for the final examination. "It took me two years to collect data to complete my thesis. If I don't get my laptop back, I may not even qualify to appear for the final examination," said another resident doctor. "Other than that, we also have important academic related documents," the student added.
In all the cases, an FIR has been registered at the Bhoiwada police station. But the students allege that despite repeated complaints to the hospital authority, they aren't paying any heed.
"Despite repeated complaints, the hospital hasn't installed CCTV cameras in all the floors. The security is extremely weak so anyone from outside can walk into the hostels without checking," said another resident doctor.
