• Concerns raised over patient confidentiality
• Medics say decision taken without stakeholders’ consultation
• PMA calls move ‘ill-conceived, impractical’
LAHORE / KARACHI: Healthcare workers and officials have raised concern over the Punjab government’s decision to make body cameras mandatory for hospital staff, warning that the move was taken without consultation and could infringe patients’ rights to privacy and dignity.
Body-worn cameras, or bodycams, are wearable audio and video recording devices used to capture footage of official actions. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Friday announced that bodycams would be made mandatory for nurses, ward staff, security guards and pharmacy personnel — excluding doctors — after complaints about the behaviour and alleged negligence of hospital staff.
Last month, Lahore’s Nishtar Hospital sacked a doctor working as an additional house officer for misbehaving with a patient’s family, a video of which had gone viral on social media. An inquiry committee was also formed to probe the incident.
Officials have taken strong exception to the move, terming it “ill-conceived” and a direct violation of patients’ fundamental rights.
“This is unbelievable. If at all this is decided and practically applied, it will not be a useful technique to improve the health delivery system,” Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) President Dr Izhar Ahmed Chaudhry told Dawn. “It will bounce back and give a bad name to the government.”
He maintained the government had not consulted anyone or any forum at any level and termed the decision “illogical, impractical and insane,” which was “against fundamental rights of patients as well as the health professionals”.
“It violates essential privacy of patients and professional liberty and confidentiality of the health professionals during treatment, which is mandatory and cannot be violated under the law,” he added.
In Dr Chaudhry’s view, instead of taking measures to improve the current deteriorating conditions in the health sector and make it free for all, the government was creating situations and endangering lives and the very existence of health professionals.
He said that the government decided “to sell out the health institutions and deliberately make the working conditions miserable with each passing day”.
For Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab President Dr Shoaib Niazi, the decision was a “useless act” for which the association was “not consulted”. “I was not consulted at all. This decision came from the higher-ups, and it’s a useless act,” he said, adding that similar decisions, such as a prohibition on the use of mobile phones on duty, were imposed on hospital staff, but they were not implemented.
“This move will compromise patient privacy and confidentiality, for example, in the gynaecology and labour wards. Moreover, the footage will go to the IT department, and anyone can access it without patients’ consent,” Dr Niazi said.
Raising questions on the source of funding for the bodycams, Mr Niazi said the “security guards have not been paid salaries for the last three months in Mayo Hospital. How will the government provide bodycams? How will they implement such a structure? Where will the money come from?”
He further said that there would be no “honest opinion” because of body cameras, adding that the government had taken the decision without consulting him, and it was expected that the next step would be to make bodycams mandatory for doctors.
The YDA Punjab president said he would hold a press conference related to the issue soon, and he would speak in detail about it.
According to the Punjab Young Nurses Association Member and a staffer at Children’s Hospital Lahore, Muqaddas Tasneem, nurses were a major stakeholder in the decision, but none of them were consulted.
“The govt didn’t consult us at all and decided on its own. However, we have to follow the orders and act upon the directions,” she said.
Junaid Tariq, president of Allied Health Sciences at Lahore General Hospital, representing ward staff and other allied workers, said his group was neither informed nor consulted.
“We are unable to understand the purpose of this order. It fits in with the responsibilities of security guards, but it will compromise the privacy of patients. It will compromise the confidentiality of patients’ medical records. The nature of our work does not relate to security,” he said.
‘Inconceivable decision’
Speaking to Dawn, former Punjab caretaker minister for health, Dr Javed Akram, said he did not have any knowledge of the decision, saying it was “not possible that something like this will happen, as it was inconceivable. How will they do it to so many people?”
Dr Akram raised multiple questions on the practical aspect of the decision: “How will they watch or analyse those (healthcare officials) with bodycams? What if the employees with cams have to go to the restrooms? Will they take the cam off each time?”
Imran Gabol in Lahore also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2026
