NEW DELHI: The Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (GIPMER) in Delhi has withdrawn the order that was released earlier directing all its nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication and said ‘serious actions’ would be taken against anyone found speaking in other languages.
The hospital administration said that the circular was issued without their information.
The circular issued by the nursing superintendent of the hospital said GIPMER had received a complaint against the use of the Malayalam language.
“A complaint has been received regarding the Malayalam language being used for communication in working places in GIPMER.
Whereas maximum patient and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconveniences,” the circular read.
“So it is directed to all nursing personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication otherwise serious action will be taken,” it added.
Commenting on the matter, Congress MP KC Venugopal urged Union health minister Harsh Vardhan to order an immediate withdrawal of the “bizarre” and “unconstitutional” circular issued by the authorities of GIPMER.
“I urge to hon’ble health minister @drharshvardhan to order an immediate withdrawal of the bizarre & unconstitutional circular issued by the authorities of GIPMER,” Venugopal tweeted.
I urge to Hon’ble health Minister @drharshvardhan to order an immediate withdrawal of the bizarre & unconstitutiona… https://t.co/3NQXUZ3bqx— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) 1622920269000″Nurses from Kerala are sincerely discharging their duties across the world and taking care of the patients.
Naturally, nurses belonging to the same region would speak the language among themselves as it is their mother tongue.
It is illogical to assume that they would speak in their mother tongue to a person who can’t speak that language.
The circular is, undoubtedly, highly discriminatory and denying the basic fundamental right guaranteed by our constitution,” the Congress MP stated in the letter.
Congress Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor called the circular and a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens.
It boggles the mind that in democratic India a government institution can tell its nurses not to speak in their mot… https://t.co/U0UV90yKNb— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) 1622915557000″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,” Tharoor tweeted.
Watch Delhi: GB Pant Hospital to penalise nurses speaking in Malayalam at work