NEW DELHI: Delhi government’s GB Pant Hospital on Sunday withdrew a controversial circular issued a day before asking its nursing staff not to use Malayalam at work and use only Hindi and English.
The circular was issued on Saturday by the nursing superintendent of Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (GIPMER) and strict action is likely after an investigation that is already being conducted.
The hospital’s medical director, Dr Anil Agarwal, issued an order revoking the circular.
Saturday’s circular was issued without any instruction or knowledge of the hospital administration and Delhi government and stands withdrawn with immediate effect, the order stated.
Dr Agarwal confirmed to TOI that the circular had been revoked.
The Saturday circular read, “A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language being used for communication in working places in GIPMER.
Whereas maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconvenience.
So, it is directed to all nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication.
Otherwise, serious action will be taken.” An official of GB Pant Nurses’ Association said out of around 850 nurses, almost 400 were Malayali.
The circular was issued based on a patient’s complaint to a senior officer in the health department regarding the use of Malayalam at the hospital, Liladhar Ramchandani, association president, claimed, adding that “the union disagrees with the wordings”.
The circular invited criticism from the medical fraternity, politicians and the public.
Congress’ Rahul Gandhi called for stopping language discrimination, while MP Shashi Tharoor called it “unacceptable, crude, offensive and a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens”.
Last year, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences had issued an order advising staff that regional languages should not be spoken on its premises.