Jaipur: A WhatsApp group chat between staff belonging to a private hospital in Rajasthan went viral Sunday. The thread of conversation which featured denying treatment to Muslims drew widespread flak and criticism.
In a series of messages, the staff of the ‘Srichand Baradiya Rog Nidan Kendra’, a private hospital in Churu district of Rajasthan wrote about non-treatment of Muslims. “Kal se me (in) muslim ptnt (patients) ka x-ray ni krunga. Yah meri sapat hai (I promise that from tomorrow onwards, I won’t do X-rays for Muslim patients),” said one group member.
“Agar Hindu positive hote n, Muslim dr hota to hinduo ko kbhi ni dekhte. Me ni dekhungi Muslim opd. Bol dena madam h he ni yaha (If Hindus were COVID-19 positive and then a Muslim doctor would have never attended to them. I will not attend to Muslims in the OPD. Tell them madam is not here),” added another staff member.
They further suggested that Muslim patients must only be sent to Muslim doctors. After the chat went viral on social media, the owner of the hospital, Sunil Choudhary, posted an apology on Facebook.
“Neither my staff nor I had any intention of hurting the emotions of any religious group. Despite that, people felt bad, and for this, my entire hospital staff and I are apologetic to you all and we assure you that in the future you won’t have any opportunity to complain against our hospital,” Choudhary said.
The owner claimed that the messages are from mid-April, after a gathering of Tablighi Jamaat members had led to an increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases.
“There were several positive COVID-19 cases in our area. As you can see someone has written this and there’s no doubt about it, but you should also try to know the reality. If you see the number of Muslim patients we attend to on a regular basis, you will see that the ground reality has no relation with what has been said in the chat. Even during that time of widespread fear, I was providing 24-hour healthcare facilities to everyone. We have never discriminated against anyone on the basis of their religion or caste,” Choudhary said.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan police has initiated an inquiry into the matter. Mahendra Dutt Sharma, station house officer at the Sardarshahar police station in Churu, said, “An FIR has been filed under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (public mischief) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act, based on the complaint reported at the police control room.”
Agencies