Patna, May 8, 2020: A legal notice has been issued to a private hospital in Patna for discriminating patients on the basis of faith.
Tabish Sharfuddin, a Patna High Court advocate, sent the notice on May 7 after Saroj Hospital in Kankarbagh, a Patna suburb, refused to admit a Muslim patient, because of her religion.
This violated the National Human Rights Commissioner’s Charter of Patient Rights, the legal notice pointed out.
The hospital administration has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, accusing the hospital employees of indulging in promotion of “communal hatred and disharmony.”
The legal notice demanded a public apology from the hospital administration, to be published within 48 hours, or face necessary legal action under various laws.
The legal notice also cautioned the hospital staff to avoid similar incidents in future, if they would become “culpable of negligence, hence inviting serious criminal charges and disciplinary action for their inhuman behavior.”
Immediately after receiving the notice, the hospital administration responded with a public apology letter signed by a renowned pediatric, Doctor Sunil Kumar. In the note, Kumar expressed that the hospital has been treating Hindus and Muslims for a great number of years and has never discriminated patients on the basis of religion.
Acknowledging that it might have shown disaffection against a particular patient, the authorities requested an apology for the same.
Source: twocircles.net