Punjab govt to deploy 200 security guards at district hospitals by March 2026, ensuring safer workplaces for medical staff amid rising violence.
The Punjab govt wrote to the managing director of the Punjab Ex-Servicemen Corporation (PESCO) to request the provision of 200 security guards, days after the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) threatened to go on strike following Diwali over their long-standing demand for increased security.
PESCO is a professionally run company that offers dependents, widows, and former service members employment through outsourcing.
About 200 security guards will soon be stationed at all of the state’s district hospitals, according to the health department’s official announcement.
The Punjab govt will be supplying security personnel to government hospitals for the first time. Security guards have been deployed in response to violent and vandalized incidents on hospital grounds that have injured medical professionals. There were 80 documented instances of violence on hospital grounds in 2024–2025 alone.
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The state government has made the decision to supply security guards by March 31, 2026, in order to give medical officers and professionals at Punjab government hospitals a safe place to work. According to a letter sent to the PESCO’s managing director by the Punjab health department, “The Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) will cover the costs of hiring these security guards and their salaries.”
emblem for calling to action
Officials from the Punjab Health Department assured HT that security personnel will be stationed at sub-divisional hospitals by December 31 and at 24-hour community health centers by March 31 of the next year.
At the moment, a large number of district hospitals, civil hospitals, and community health centers (CHCs) are functioning without any security personnel.
“There are major security concerns for female physicians working nights in rural locations. Male ward attendants are being used for night duty in the absence of security personnel. A safe workplace will surely act as a powerful pull factor to address the government’s current problems with high attrition and low entry rates of medical officers into the public health cadre. Thus, security officers are urgently needed,” a medical official who asked to remain anonymous stated.
We are hopeful that the next two phases—the deployment of security guards at SDH by December 31 and at CHCs by March 31, 2026—will also be finished within the allotted time frames, stated Dr. Akhil Sarin, state president of PCMSA. By giving them a secure and comfortable workplace, we are convinced that this action will function as a significant pull factor to keep physicians in the public health cadre.