Many hospitals in South Carolina are struggling to implement protection against gun violence due to financial limitations and the accessible nature of their medical buildings, according to The Post and Courier.
The Faculty Senate for Charleston-based Medical University of South Carolina passed an official resolution this summer to "affirm that gun violence is a public health problem of the highest priority," according to the report. At the same meeting, a faculty member questioned why MUSC did not have metal detectors at all entrances. While MUSC considered installing metal detectors, the health system scrapped the idea after learning it would cost nearly $1 million to staff each of the 24 entrances with three security personnel every year.
Other hospital systems are training staff to use handheld metal detector wands on hospital visitors, finding this method more cost effective than large metal detectors at each door.
"Hospitals are the institutions we rely on to keep their doors open to everyone, which makes them more difficult to secure," Schipp Ames, spokesperson for the South Carolina Hospital Association, told The Post and Courier via email. "Because healthcare campuses have become more vast, hospitals now have more access and entry points to monitor and protect."