METAL detectors and closed circuit televisions are to be installed at the Kingston Public Hospital, which has been affected by several security breaches over the years.

The tenders for the provision of the security system which were invited by the Health Ministry last month, were expected to be opened yesterday morning and will be evaluated at a date to be announced by the South-East Regional Health Authority.

The invitation for the tenders came after months of deliberation by health authorities over how to deal effectively with glaring holes in the security system at the public hospital.

On May 28, 1999, Angela Roberts, a suspected drug smuggler, was snatched from the hospital by two armed men, after she was held with a quantity of cocaine and taken to the hospital to expel the packages. Hospital officials denied the report saying the woman had escaped the custody of the police officers who were assigned to guard her.

Since that incident, the easily penetrated security system at the hospital has been exposed on many occasions.

On October 4, 2000, a Jamaica Defence Force soldier was shot and injured and had his self-loading rifle (SLR) stolen, after two gunmen invaded the hospital’s compound and escaped with Mark Anthony Morant, a prisoner of the general penitentiary, who was awaiting extradition to the US on alleged drug trafficking charges.

And a few months later, a prisoner, 19 year-old Nokia Broderick and 60 year-old District Constable Oswald Thomas, who was assigned to guard him, were shot to death at the hospital, despite the increased presence of police and soldiers at the health facility.