“Maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconveniences. So it is directed to all nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication otherwise, serious action will be taken,” the circular on Saturday had said.
After facing flak, Delhi’s GB Pant Hospital withdrew its bizarre order wherein it directed its nursing staff “to use only Hindi and English for communication” as “maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language”
Formal written order has been issued as well. @ThePrintIndia https://t.co/X5BjWowThT pic.twitter.com/CShnSj81cb
— Aneesha Bedi (@AneeshaBedi) June 6, 2021
The hospital administration in the latest order said that that the order was issued without their knowledge.
The latest decision was taken after Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain ordered the hospital to immediately withdraw the circular.
Reportedly, the Delhi government will also issue a memo against the Medical Supervisor (MS), which will be forwarded to the nursing superintendent of the state-owned GB Pant hospital.
The GB Pant Hospital on Saturday issued the circular, saying, “A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language being used for communication in working place.”
It boggles the mind that in democratic India a government institution can tell its nurses not to speak in their mother tongue to others who understand them. This is unacceptable, crude,offensive and a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens. A reprimand is overdue! pic.twitter.com/za7Y4yYzzX
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) June 5, 2021
“Maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconveniences. So it is directed to all nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication otherwise, serious action will be taken,” the circular added.
The order by GB Pant Hospital was heavily criticized on social media. Congress MP from Thiruvananthpuram Shashi Tharoor said that this was “unacceptable, crude, offensive and a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens.”
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GB Pant nurses’ association president, Liladhar Ramchandani, denied that there were biases against a particular language. He said the circular was issued in pursuance of a complaint sent by a patient to a senior officer in the health department, regarding the use of the Malayalam language at the hospital.
He added that the union “disagrees with the wordings used in the circular”. Ramchandani, also the secretary-general of Delhi Nurses Federation, said, “As a language’s name, Malayalam, has been inserted in the circular, many will take offense”, PTI reported.
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