HYDERABAD: The war like situation with Pakistan has resulted in preparations in Telangana, particularly in Hyderabad, to protect medical assets – particularly hospitals – in the event of an attack, by taking recourse to protection offered under the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties that mandate, among several other provisions, that all civilian health care facilities be protected by parties engaged in an armed conflict.A government hospital in Mulugu painted a large ‘Red Cross’ on the terrace, following guidelines. — DCAll hospitals, run by the government, as well as by private managements, were told to paint large ‘Red Cross’ symbols on their roofs which would be easily visible from the sky, a top government official told Deccan Chronicle on Thursday. That the guidelines were received from the Centre was mentioned on Wednesday by Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand, who is also the city’s civil defence head.Both India and Pakistan are signatories to the Geneva Conventions.Of the 20 big and small government hospitals in Hyderabad, Red Cross symbols – on a 12×12 feet square white background to ensure their easy visibility from the air – have been painted on the roofs of 15 hospitals, Director of Medical Education, Dr A. Narendra Kumar told Deccan Chronicle.Across the 33 districts of Telangana, 287 government hospitals, including community medical will have the Red Cross symbols painted, he said. The painting is being done by the Telangana Medical Services & Infrastructure Development Corporation. As on Thursday evening, the painting was completed for 164 hospitals and the rest are expected to be completed on Friday.As per the 4th and 5th Geneva Conventions, during armed conflicts, hospitals and medical personnel are to be respected and protected, they are not to be attacked, and are to be treated as safety zones. To ensure their protection, all civilian hospitals should be marked with distinctive emblems. If there are suspicions that such medical facilities are being used as bases for military action, then a warning, with adequate advance notice must be issued as per the Conventions before any attack is launched on such hospitals.
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