‘You pelt stones at our forces, then come here for treatment’

A doctor in Chandigarh’s Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) allegedly abused a Kashmiri woman and her son, ticking them off for throwing stones at security forces in the Valley and coming to Chandigarh for treatment.

Nasreena Malik, 55, a native of Srinagar, suffers from intracranial aneurysm (a blood vessel-related condition in the brain) and had gone to PGI for consultation about a neurosurgical surgery. The family said they left after the doctor’s misbehaviour and misinformation about the cost of treatment. The incident happened on Thursday. Nasreena’s son Javaid Malik told HT that the nameplate outside the doctor’s cabin read ’Dr Manoj Tiwari’ although Javaid says he is not sure if the doctor who misbehaved was him.

“As we entered, he talked to us in a civilised wayup. He asked for the patient’s case history. The moment I showed him documents from Srinagar’s SKIMS Hospital and he got to know that we are Kashmiris, his attitude changed. He got angry and threw away the documents and said that ‘vaha Kashmir me humare jawano ko patthar marte ho aur phir yahan ilaj ke liye aate ho’ (you people pelt stones at security personnel in Kashmir and come here for treatment),” Javaid said.

Javaid, a shopkeeper, said the doctor told them the surgery would cost ₹15 lakh while patients with similar ailment told him it should cost a maximum of ₹80,000. The doctor suggested they should go to AIIMS, Delhi. Neither Nasreena nor Javaid lodged a complaint with PGIMER. The hospital denied Kashmiri patients are discriminated against. “We haven’t received any complaint but we will look into the matter if anything has happened,” Dr Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER told HT.