Sexist remark for accident victim’s wife at National Hospital

The wife and a niece of an accident victim who was in the intensive care unit of the National Hospital in Colombo had to visit the hospital around 10 in the night as the victim’s family was asked to come there urgently.

Unfamiliar with the hospital’s surroundings, the spouse requested a niece to accompany her. At the entrance to the hospital, a security guard on duty had said that only the wife can go in. Then, he told the lady, “don’t worry; no one gets raped inside the hospital premises, so you can go alone.”

While it is understandable that there will be lapses when a free health care system is at work, what is unacceptable is the rude and inappropriate manner in which some of the security personnel on duty choose to throw their weight around and make sexist comments of this nature. Maybe the administrative authorities of the country’s premier hospital would do well to conduct a class for the crass security personnel on basic etiquette to be exercised when dealing with the public. It’s the authorities who get the bad name, after all.

While it is understandable that there will be lapses when a free health care system is at work, what is unacceptable is the rude and inappropriate manner in which some of the security personnel on duty choose to throw their weight around and make sexist comments of this nature.