Mumbai doctors have hired private security after an increase in attacks by patients and their families, according to an article on the India Times website. Association of Medical Consultants (AMC) doctors can dial a special number to mobilize security men to reach a trouble spot within nine minutes
Violence against doctors has become common in Mumbai, with resident doctors in public hospitals or nursing homes targeted by mobs or patients' relatives.
"One doesn't hear of big corporate hospitals with elaborate security arrangements facing mob attacks. It's perhaps the lack of security at nursing homes that emboldens mobs,'' said Dr Lalit Kapoor of AMC.
The service is meant for individual doctors and not only for security, but safety as well. The doctors can dial the service for help in case he or she meets with an accident or there is a fire at their house.