In a case of medical negligence, a sweeper gave stitches to a patient in Gujarat's Bharuch Civil Hospital. The matter came to light after the video of the incident surfaced on social media on Sunday.
Taking note of the matter, the resident medical officer (RMO) of the hospital assured action in the incident. "We are investigating the case and once it is complete, we will inform the higher authorities. Action will be taken accordingly," RMO SR Patel told.
#Gujarat: Video of a sweeper (man in white shirt) assisting in giving stitches to a patient in Bharuch Civil Hospital goes viral on social media. Resident medical officer SR Patel says,'we are investigating the case. Once it is done we will inform the higher authorities'(19.8.18) pic.twitter.com/FHIFwLQ8lu
— ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2018
In the video, the class four employee of the hospital was seen giving stitches to a man, despite nurses and a doctor being present at the scene.
The sweeper in question was involved in a similar incident three months ago when he was filmed giving stitches to another patient.
Solanki, a 12th standard Science stream pass out from Bharuch, has been working with the Bharuch Civil hospital since last 4 years under a contractor, D G Vakrani. During his four years, he had spent three and half years working in different operation theatres and around six months ago he was transferred to the emergency ward.
Solanki said, “While working in the operation theatre, my work was to assist the doctors who perform surgeries, and I kept watch on their hands movements and slowly I started learning about how to take stitches and make cuts on the body. We act as per the instructions of doctors and if we refuse they will complain about us to our contractor and also get us kicked out from the job. We don’t have any way out, but to follow the instructions given by doctors.”
Talking to the media Resident Medical officer of Bharuch Civil hospital S R Patel said, “Last time we had strictly warned him not to act on the instructions given by any doctors. It is the duty of doctor to take stitches. We will issue the doctor a memo and later steps would be taken accordingly.”
As the video went viral, questions were raised about the processes followed by the doctors at the hospital. Around two months ago, similar video of Solanki taking stitches on an injured person at Bharuch Civil hospital had gone viral and at that time no steps were taken against doctor Contractor.