Nursing Staff at Jodhpur AIIMS Protest Treatment Denial to Colleague’s Wife

Jodhpur: The nursing staff of AIIMS Jodhpur has been sporting black arm bands to protest alleged denial of treatment to the pregnant wife of a senior nursing officer at the hospital as they hailed from a coronavirus hotspot zone in the city.

The nursing staff of the institution had last week submitted a memorandum to the director of AIIMS demanding an inquiry into the matter and stern action against the doctor, who allegedly refused treatment.

“It has been a week since we had submitted a memorandum to the administration for action, but no action has yet been taken. All of us have been working with black straps around our arms”, said the Secretary of Nursing Officers' Welfare Association of AIIMS, Gulab Choudhary.

Superintendent of AIIMS, Arvind Sinha, said they had received the complaint and were looking into it.

"It is nothing but a matter of miscommunication”, said Sinha.

Senior Nursing officer of AIIMS, Naresh Kumar Swami, had taken his 11 weeks pregnant wife to the emergency department of AIIMS on May 17.

“My wife had been profusely bleeding. So being an employee of AIIMS, I rushed my wife to the Emergency. But the doctor from the gynaecology department refused to take her for treatment after learning that we live in the corona hotspot zone of the city”, he alleged.

Swami said he pleaded with the doctor to attend to his wife, but citing COVID-19 policy of the hospital, the doctor advised him to take his wife to a private facility.

“I kept rushing from one centre to other for the entire day but all in vain. Entire day and night, my wife kept suffering. Next day I managed treatment at a private hospital and took her there”, said Swami.

But it was too late by then and the doctor at the hospital had to terminate the pregnancy.

Accusing the AIIMS of dereliction of duty in the name of COVID Policy, Swami said that "had his wife been provided timely treatment, the child could have been saved".

“If this is the treatment of the institution with its own staff, what seriousness could be expected from them for a common outside patient”, he said.

In their memorandum, the association has demanded an explicit policy so that such incidents do not take place.

“This is not for the first time. Many such incidents have happened earlier also but no action has been taken by the hospital administration”, alleged Choudhary.