With incidents of violence against doctors rising, resident doctors from many government hospitals have over the years demanded a security system under which a team can be mobilised by pressing the distress bell. (File) The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi launched an “empowerment app” called the AIIMS ICC on the occasion of International Women’s Day for its women employees, who feel unsafe in the hospital. The app has a panic button, which can be used to send a distress signal to the hospital security team.
The app will be used to determine the location of the signal and a quick response team will reach there within a minute, according to the hospital. “The app can be used as a signal to initiate rescue for female employees who find themselves cornered in a tight situation,” a release from AIIMS said.
In addition, the AIIMS app will have a section that will tell users about the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 also known as the POSH Act. The app can also be used to directly file a complaint to the Internal Complaint’s Committee, without the need to physically reach out to anybody. Since the POSH Act came into force, all workplaces with 10 or more employees are required to have an internal complaints committee that can receive complaints, conduct enquiry, and recommend actions that need to be taken.
“The (app) is a step in the direction of empowering female staff across cadres at AIIMS and is one of the many activities that the internal complaints committee of AIIMS, New Delhi has undertaken in the last one year. The other activities being debates, CME (continued medical education), and poster competitions for male and female employees alike,” the release from the institute added.
With incidents of violence against doctors rising, resident doctors from many government hospitals have over the years demanded a security system under which a team can be mobilised by pressing the distress bell.
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