Doctor ‘abuses’ Kashmiri patient over stone pelting

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, from Srinagar, suffers from intracranial aneurysm (a blood vessel related condition in the brain) and had gone to PGI for consultation about a neurosurgical surgery, according to her family. The family said they left the hospital in a huff after the doctor’s misbehaviour and misinformation about 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 Dr Tiwari or not.

“As we entered the cabin, he talked to us in a civilised way and started his check up. Then he asked for the case history of the patient. The moment I showed him previous documents from Srinagar’s SKIMS Hospital and he got to know that we are Kashmiris, his attitude changed. He just got angry and threw away the documents and said ‘Vaha Kashmir me humara jawano ko patthar mar te ho aur phir yahan ilaj ke liye aate ho’ (“you people pelt stones on security personnel in Kashmir and come here for treatment”), Javaid said.

Javaid who is a shopkeeper in Srinagar, added that the doctor said the surgery would cost ₹15 lakh while other patients with similar ailment told him that it should cost a maximum of ₹80,000, including medicines and other expenses. The doctor also suggested they should go to AIIMS in Delhi, he said.

“Due to such behaviour and misinformation, I left PGI with my mother that evening . Now we are considering going to Delhi for treatment,” Javaid said. Neither Nasreena nor Javaid lodged a complaint with the hospital. PGI has denied Kashmiri patients are discriminated against.

“Every day hundreds of people from Kashmir visit PGIMER and we provide best quality treatment to everyone. We haven’t received any complaint but we will look into the matter...” Dr Jagat Ram, director PGIMER told HT.