New Delhi:Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (GIPMER) in Delhi has withdrawn an order to its nurses from Kerala not to speak in Malayalam at work. Delhi Health Department has issued a memo to the hospital in this regard.
The order instructed nurses to use only English or Hindi for communication at work, which sparked protests from politicians.
GIPMER in Delhi had earlier said 'serious action' would be taken against anyone found speaking in other languages.
A circular issued by the Nursing Superintendent of the hospital said GIPMER had received a complaint against the use of Malayalam language.
"A complaint has been received regarding Malayalam language being used for communication in work places in GIPMER. Whereas maximum patients and colleagues do not know this language and feel helpless causing a lot of inconveniences," the circular read.
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"So it is directed to all Nursing Personnel to use only Hindi and English for communication otherwise serious action will be taken," it added.
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the hospital's move and asked to stop language discrimination. He said Malayalam is as Indian as any other language.
Commenting on the matter, Congress MP KC Venugopal urged Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to order an immediate withdrawal of the "bizarre" and "unconstitutional" circular issued by the authorities of GIPMER.
"I urge Hon'ble health Minister @drharshvardhan to order an immediate withdrawal of the bizarre & unconstitutional circular issued by the authorities of GIPMER," Venugopal tweeted.
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"Nurses from Kerala are sincerely discharging their duties across the world and taking care of the patients. Naturally, nurses belonging to the same region would speak the language among themselves as it is their mother tongue. It is illogical to assume that they would speak in their mother tongue to a person who can't speak that language. The circular is, undoubtedly, highly discriminatory and denying the basic fundamental right guaranteed by our constitution," the Congress MP stated in the letter.
Congress Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor called the circular a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens.
"It boggles the mind that in democratic India a government institution can tell its nurses not to speak in their mother tongue to others who understand them. This is unacceptable, crude, offensive and a violation of the basic human rights of Indian citizens. A reprimand is overdue," Tharoor tweeted.
(ANI)
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