Coronavirus: Separate wards for Hindus, Muslims; Gujarat hospital segregates patients

In Gujarat's Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, wards for coronavirus patients and suspected cases have been divided on the basis of religion. The hospital of 1,200 beds has created a separate ward for Hindu patients and another ward for Muslim patients.

Medical Superintendent Dr Gunvant H Rathod said that usually wards were separated on the basis of gender, but in this hospital, they have segregated wards on the basis of faith, as mentioned in The Indian Express report. This was done as per state government's decision, Rathod added.

However, Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Nitin Patel and Ahmedabad Collector KK Nirala have denied the report. Nirala said there were no such instructions from the government's side.

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The daily quoted a patient who said, "On Sunday night, the names of 28 men admitted in the first ward (A-4) were called out. We were then shifted to another ward (C-4). While we were not told why we were being shifted, all the names that were called out belonged to one community. We spoke to one staff member in our ward today and he said this had been done for the comfort of both community".

In the last week of March, a block of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital was designated as coronavirus centre for the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar zone. So far, 186 people have been admitted to this hospital. Out of these, 150 were found to be COVID-19 positive. The daily, citing sources said, out of the 150 at least 40 were Muslims.

Overall, Gujarat has reported 650 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 28 deaths, as of April 15, afternoon, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data.

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