Ludhiana, April 24
Keeping vigil day and night has taken a heavy toll on the health of Ludhiana policemen with over 70 per cent of them performing duty despite bad health.
Their medical examination at a camp last week proved that the crime busters were suffering health wise and needed immediate medicare.
As many as 1,700 of the 2,324 policemen examined so far during a special medical check up have failed the liver function test (LFT) that determines the health of liver, 240 have high blood sugar levels, 1,600 have hypertension, 600 have high cholesterol levels, 340 high uric acid in blood and several of them suffer from more than one disorder at the same time.
Policemen on PCR duty are the worst hit with many complaining of burns and skin allergies on thighs owing to long rides on motorbikes.
These figures are going to become more alarming. There are 3,100 odd policemen in Ludhiana police district of which 2,324 have been medically examined so far.
Around 200 of them have been told to undergo advance tests for hepatitis A, B and C. Long, irregular and stressful working hours, accompanied by improper diet, heavy drinking are listed as main factors behind their deteriorating health. Besides, policemen drinking unclean water while on duty in various areas has caused malfunctioning of liver.
These startling figures have shown up at every medical check up of the men in khaki. Two years ago, a similar check up camp at the Apollo hospital had revealed a high incidence of hypertension among policemen.
This, however, resulted in a hue and cry about taking care of the health of the policemen for a few days, but soon their plight was forgotten. In the last check up camp, there were a few policemen with improper liver functioning. A number of Inspectors had undergone bypass surgeries. Two of them were posted as SHOs in the city.
Police officials said the policemen in the state were the most ignored with no one bothering about their health care. “The sixth pay commission has rubbed salt into their wounds by recommending far less salaries as compared to other government employees.”
SSP R.K. Jaiswal said the police usually got the stick from the media and public, “The stress levels of the policemen can be understood from the figures that on an average 1,200 calls are received at police control room phone every day. These are attended by 90 PCR staff. Besides, they get emergency calls for VIP movement, mob control and other exigencies.”
The SSP said two special medical camps would be organised in the police lines on April 27 and May 4 to provide them with medicines and treatment for various ailments.
Besides, a teams of doctors and dieticians would speak to them on ways to improve their health during morning parade at the police lines.
