Srinagar: A video shot by a doctor inside a maternity hospital in Srinagar, showing restricted areas including the labour room and an operation theatre during an active surgery, has sparked widespread outrage and raised questions about patient privacy and professional ethics.
In the clips, which surfaced on social media on Wednesday, the doctor can be seen filming himself and colleagues while casually walking through sensitive zones of the hospital, even capturing a live surgical procedure and posing for selfies with other staff. The casual tone of the video and the apparent disregard for patient dignity has drawn sharp criticism from medical professionals and the public alike.
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
Amid the outrage, the Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar has initiated an inquiry into the matter. “An Enquiry Committee has been constituted to investigate the video circulated on social media regarding Lalla Ded Hospital, Srinagar. The committee comprising medical and IT experts will submit its report within 24 hours, and appropriate disciplinary action will follow,” GMC said in a statement.
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.
