Amid the coronavirus outbreak, a cancer hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut has published an advertisement in the Hindi edition of Dainik Jagran newspaper stating that the hospital is not accepting any new Muslim patients unless and untill the patient and the caretaker accompanying the patient show that they have tested negative for COVID-19, reported The Wire.
An ad in Dainik Jagran by Valentis cancer hospital read, "Several Muslim patients are not following the guidelines (like using a mask, maintaining hygiene) and they are also misbehaving with hospital staff. For the security of hospital’s staff and patients, the hospital administration requests all new Muslim patients that they and one designated caretaker get tested for COVID-19 and visit the hospital only if their reports are negative."
The Wire
Well, this discrimination against the Muslim patients violates the rules of the National Human Rights Commission's charter of patients rights adopted by the health ministry in March 2019. As per charter 8, a patient canot be denied treatment on the basis of their religion.
However, according the advertisemnt by the hospital, it claims that the number of COVID-19 cases has grown due to Tablighi Jamaat gathering and several patients in Meerut have a connection to the same. Futher the hospital also claimed that the patients in connection with the gathering have not been cooperating with the hospital staff.
The advertisement further added that "It is due to the ignorance and ill-will of some Muslim brothers that all Muslim brothers will have to suffer for some time. But this is important in larger public interest and also in the interest of Muslim brothers.”
Moreover, the hospital has decided that those patients who need immediate medical aid can be admitted but the hospital will not get their swabs tested and instead they will send it to Meerut medical college. The cost of the testing which is pegged at Rs 4,500 will have to be borne by the patient.
Reports of 65 persons were received from a medical college in Meerut on Saturday, District Magistrate, Shamli, Jasjit Kaur said.
One among them has tested positive for COVID-19, while the reports of the rest 64 came negative, she said.
The positive case had come in contact with a Tablighi Jamaat member in Nanupura locality, Kaur said, adding he has been shifted to a hospital in Jhinjhaha.
