Kerala orders space audit in medical colleges to ensure employee safety

In the wake of protests by healthcare professionals against the rape and murder of a resident doctor at a hospital in Kolkata, the Kerala government has ordered a space audit to ensure safety of the employees in medical colleges in the state. State Health Minister Veena George has directed the Director of Medical Education to carry out the audit, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. The direction was issued by the minister in a high-level meeting of medical colleges called by her, the statement said. The conduct of the space audits has to be ensured at the institution-level by the principals and at the state-level by the Director of Medical Education, it said. The additional measures ordered by the minister to ensure safety in medical colleges in Kerala, include organising mock drills, installing public address systems, CCTVs and alarms, using walkie talkies, intensifying security monitoring and not allowing unauthorised persons to stay inside the hospitals at night, the