In a development that raised the eyebrows of senior doctors at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) on Thursday, Hindu outfits organised a special ‘homam’ in the early hours at Vanabadrakaliamman temple on its premises, to prevent the deaths due to dengue fever.
While Vishwa Hindu Parishad district President Chinmaya Somasundram, who organised the ‘mrithyunjaya homam’ along with two other groups, claims it was done after seeking the permission of GRH Dean N Mohan, senior doctors in the hospital said they were not aware of it.
“We are disturbed over this superstitious act. In fact we all have faith in God, but that doesn’t mean organising such ceremonies would save the lives of the people who have been admitted to the hospital with dengue,” said several doctors.
In the past two months, hundreds of lives have been saved by the effective treatment given by doctors at the dengue special ward, said a senior doctor, adding that this incident of holding a ‘homam’ has not only questioned the credibility of the doctors but also the quality of treatment provided.
“There are no provisions to organise such religious ceremonies inside a government hospital premises. Moreover, conducting rituals of a particular religion would disturb communal harmony,” said the senior doctors.
VHP’s Somasundram said the ‘homam’ was organised only with good intention.
“Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple priest Senthil Pattar along with 10 Sivachariyars performed the homam for nearly two hours, to prevent death due to dengue and viral fever,” he said. Somasundram also said that after the ‘homam’, Senthil Pattar and the Sivachariyars sprayed the ritual waters at four special dengue wards where the patients sought the blessings from the priest.
Meanwhile, hospital sources say the ceremony cost around Rs 2 lakh. When Express contacted GRH Dean Mohan, he denied having given permission to organise the yagam. “I came to know about the incident only in the morning,” he said. Mohan also denied being present towards the end of the ceremony.
Expressing shock over the ‘homam’, Collector Anshul Mishra said he would conduct an inquiry and recommend action against those responsible for the “mindless” event.