Medical tests on 240 men in uniform by a private hospital portray a dismal picture of police personnel’s health

Whether the Ludhiana police have been able to safeguard the public or not is debatable but the police force has failed to guard themselves from various ailments.

This was proved by medical tests conducted by a private hospital in the city which revealed that a majority of Ludhiana policemen, especially the lower-rung personnel, are suffering from one ailment or the other.

The Pulmonary Functioning Tests (PFT) have found that police personnel are suffering from eye problems, throat infection, respiratory discomfort, skin diseases, impaired hearing, chest disease, excessive carboxyhaemoglobin and annoyance with noise. Nearly 240 personnel of the Ludhiana traffic police had undergone the check up at the SPS Apollo hospital recently.

Earlier in April this year, of a total of 2,324 police personnel medically examined during an annual medical check-up camp, over 1,700 cops were found to be unfit under the Lever Functioning Test (LFT), a problem which normally generates various other health problems such as jaundice, Hepatitis A, B and C.

Hypertension too has taken its toll on the health of the city cops. According to the reports of the annual medical check up, over 1,600 police personnel were found to be suffering from hypertension. Besides, nearly 650 cops were found to be suffering from high cholesterol. Nearly 350 have excess uric acid and nearly 240 having abnormal blood sugar levels.

Says SSP RK Jaiswal: "Stress is taking its toll on the health of the police department. Ours is not an eight-hour but a 24-hour job. Many times policemen do not get time to eat meals at fixed hours. You can well imagine the situation of lower-rung employees."

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