HYDERABAD: Doctors at Gandhi Hospital in the city, who organised a ‘homam’ near the gynaecology ward on Monday, were warned by the hospital authorities not to repeat it.On Monday, doctors from the gynaecology department of the hospital performed rituals just outside the ward for the maternal and child mortalities to come down. It was published in these columns that doctors had pooled in money to organise rituals in the presence of priests.
The issue has reached the chambers of state health department’s higher officials. Director of medical education Dr K Ramesh Kumar said that a meeting would be held with the hospital superintendent where it would be stressed that any ritual should not hinder patient care. The issue of maternal deaths bothered the state health department, especially in the months of February and April.
Superintendent of the hospital Dr P Shravan Kumar said that it was conducting homam was not a mature deed and termed it as an act of innocence. “We have not given any official permission for it. We called the doctors and warned them not to repeat it,” he said.
Some doctors claimed that they had been trying for the past three months to get permission for conducting the ritual. They wondered why objections were raised though it was practised by other government institutions in the country. They pointed out that they celebrated festivals of all faiths at the hospital without disturbing patients. Head of the gynaecology department Dr Anupama claimed that no doctor, who had attended the ritual, skipped duty nor did it cause any inconvenience to the patients.