Probe ordered into J&K doctor's viral video of govt maternity hospital

Srinagar, July 31 (IANS) The health authorities on Thursday ordered a probe after a purported video clip shot by a doctor in the labour room and operation theatre of a maternity hospital in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar city came to the fore.

The video clip went viral on social media on Wednesday, causing anguish among people. The video allegedly shot and posted by a doctor showed the labour room and the operation theatre of a maternity hospital where the surgery of a patient was being performed.

The clip has raised questions about the professional ethics of doctors and the patient’s right to absolute privacy.

The video shows the doctor walking with his colleagues through the labour room and the operation theatre and shooting the video like a casual bystander.

Not only the people, but members of the doctors’ fraternity have also expressed anger and mounted criticism on the doctor’s act to film himself in such sensitive areas of a maternity hospital.

Principal of the Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, under whose administrative control the maternity hospital falls, has ordered a probe with instructions to furnish the report within 24 hours.

The conduct of the doctor not only violates the patient’s right to privacy, but also violates the directives of the Medical Council of India (MCI), in addition to being punishable under the Information Technology Act 2000, said officials here.

Just a week before this incident, there was another incident of alleged misbehaviour in the SMHS hospital of the city, where doctors allegedly roughed up a female journalist after saying they had been ill-treated.

The doctors later called a strike at the SMHS hospital after the J&K Health Minister, Sakina Itoo, had said that mass transfers of overstaying doctors were being ordered to streamline the healthcare system in the city and elsewhere. There are also reports that the presence of a senior doctor during odd hours at premier hospitals of the city has been discussed to help improve the patient-doctor relationship.

--IANS

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