Mumbai cops asked to lose fat or lose salary
Image: Indian Express
The untimely death of a 45-year-old police officer, from Jogeshwari police station, last week has raised serious questions about the health of Mumbai’s police force.
The deceased, Pravin Gaikwad, was on leave when he complained of chest pain. He was immediately rushed to VN Desai hospital where he died due to a heart attack while undergoing treatment.
A total of 78 Mumbai policemen have died since 2014 because of heart attacks.
In a recently conducted medical check up, where 18,000 policemen were examined, heart problems and increased stress level were found to be the major factors affecting health of police officials.
While speaking to HT, senior police surgeon Dr. SM Patil said that a compulsory health check up is conducted every year for all police officials above the age of 50. However, looking at the increased number of deaths due to medical problems among officers below 50 years, there is a need to conduct compulsory medical check up for policemen above 40 years.
According to a senior police official, officers have been asked to maintain their body mass index (BMI) in a bid to stay fit and avoid health related risks. He also added that stringent action has been taken against those who failed to maintain their BMI, including salary cuts. But, it is still too soon to say if the policy has gained acceptance amongst the force and whether a salary cut is enough for them to make amends.
