Arthur Road Jail ends prisoners' sham hospital visits and embarrassing escapes by introducing tele-medicine facility with JJ docs; 9 state prisons to connect with 6 hospitals
The tele-medicine facility at Arthur Road Jail uses the same video conferencing set-up used for deposing of accused during court proceedings. File Pic
In an attempt to clip the wings of notorious jailbirds, Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail has launched a tele-medicine facility within its premises to reduce the risk of prison breaks. The much-awaited move will prevent incidents of prisoners escaping while being ferried to hospital or meeting visitors illegally. Confirming the development, Harshad Ahirrao, Arthur Road Jail superintendent said, "The tele-medicine facility was started around a fortnight ago. Inmates can now interact with specialist doctors at the state-run JJ Hospital through video conferencing, whenever they need medical treatment."
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He added, "The facility uses the same set-up, which is used by the prison for deposing of accused during court proceedings."
According to prison officials, the tele-medicine facility will also be launched at Taloja and Thane jails. The prison department plans to link all nine central prisons and 38 district prisons across the state with six state hospitals through the facility. The project was delayed for nearly two years and was implemented by additional director general (prisons) BK Upadhyay.
On an average, around three to four prisoners demand out patient department (OPD) visits daily. Earlier, if an inmate complained of a serious health issue to the resident junior doctor working at the jail, the doctor recommended a consultation with the senior doctors directly at JJ.
"The process was time consuming and expensive because we had to arrange for police escorts to ferry them to hospital," a jail official said.
Based on the symptoms shown by the patient, the senior doctor will offer instructions and a prescription to the junior doctor, said an official at Arthur Road Jail.
Earlier, notorious prisoners would use 'hospital visits' as a ruse to escape prison or meet relatives and gang members. There had been cases where prisoners have also escaped from the hospital premises. "The move will reduce the burden of the police department," Ahirrao said.
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