Palakkad: Even as a controversy sparked by a reaction of the Kerala Health Minister to the murder of a young lady doctor in a government hospital in Kottarakkara is yet to be settled, another comment by a legislator of the ruling party, the CPM, led to a dispute between the political leader and doctors.
The incident took place at District Hospital, Palakkad on Thursday and the CPM leader involved was K Santhakumari, the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Kongad in Palakkad district.
According to doctors at the hospital, Santhakumari, referring to the Kottarakkara murder, quipped that doctors were getting ‘such a treatment due to their attitude.’
The doctor at the Palakkad hospital to whom the MLA made the comment explained the events to the media:
“I arrived for duty at the hospital by 8.15 pm and was told that I had to attend to a patient with a fever. All other doctors were busy at the Casualty then. I touched the person and could feel the heat. I said that the patient would need an injection,” said the lady doctor.
“However, the MLA who was accompanying her husband – the fever patient – became angry and asked me why I hadn’t used a thermometer to check the temperature. “Is this how you examine patients?” she shouted,” said the doctor.
“The fact is that the situation at the Casualty was such that I had no time to use a thermometer. Meanwhile, the MLA made a comment which pained me deeply. “It is the attitude of doctors which invites such a treatment,” said Santhakumari. It was a really shocking comment from a public figure when the news about the Kottarakkara tragedy was everywhere. More painful was that the comment was made in the Casualty in front of so many patients and other people,” said the doctor.
MLA’s denial
Santhakumari later denied that she had made the statement. She said that the doctor had examined her husband only by touching him. “I questioned the doctor why she had not used the thermometer. My husband, the patient, did not receive proper care at the hospital,” the MLA alleged.
Santhakumari later left the hospital with her husband. However, the incident sparked a controversy and the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association convened a meeting later at night to discuss the issue. A formal complaint will soon be registered, the doctors said.