The novel coronavirus outbreak appears to have brought the best and worst of humanity to the fore. In recent times, there has been several reports pertaining to religious bias and now, screenshots of a purported conversation between the staff of a Rajasthan hospital has come under the police scanner. Investigations are now underway to authenticate the allegations and the chat screenshots.
According to an Indian Express report, the staff of a private hospital in Churu district had had a WhatsApp conversation about not treating Muslim patients. Allegedly, the individuals are associated with the Srichand Baradiya Rog Nidan Kendra in the Sardarshahar area of Rajasthan.
Reportedly, one of the members of the group called ‘BARDIA RISE’ had vowed to not do X-rays for Muslim patients from the next day. The same individual had also urged others to stop attending to Muslim patients. The members also opined that since that only Muslims had tested positive in the Sardarshahar area, they should be attended to by a Muslim doctor.
“Agar Hindu positive hote n, Muslim dr hota to hinduo ko kbhi ni Dekhte. Me ni dekhungi Muslim opd. Bol dena madam h he ni yaha," Indian Express quoted one of the messages to add.
Since then, the head of the hospital, Dr Sunil Choudhary has reportedly issued an apology on Facebook, stating that the staff had not intended to hurt the sentiments of any community.
This is not the first incident of its kind. Since the COVID-19 outbreak began, there have been several references to the Tablighi Jamaat event that had led to a spurt of cases earlier this year. More recently, a leading doctor in Uttar Pradesh was spotten on camera stating that hospitals were "wasting" PPE kits on Jamaat members.
"We should not say this, but they are terrorists. And we are providing them VIP treatment, providing them food... exhausting our resources on them," Dr Aarti Lalchandani was heard saying in the clip. She however contends that the video in question had been edited.
