‘Clear human waste for better medicine,’ patients told; doctor, nurse suspended
Two patients in Karnataka's Haveri district were reportedly forced by a doctor and senior nurse to clean an overflowing sewage pit manually. The Health and Family Welfare Department suspended Dr. Shankar Y Hiregowdar and senior nurse Vanitha, who work at Savanur taluk hospital, pending an inquiry. The district administration has requested a report from Health Officer Dr. Nagaraj.
The situation arose when the pit began overflowing two days ago, and Hiregowdar wrote a letter to municipal authorities on August 27. Despite not receiving a response, the two patients were eventually enlisted to perform the task in exchange for improved medical care. Videos and photographs of the patients carrying buckets of waste from the hospital's cesspit went viral on August 28.
When locals confronted the hospital staff, Hiregowdar attempted to evade them and suggested a municipal vehicle for waste removal. On August 30, Tahasildar Ravikumar Nagappa Koravar filed a complaint stating that two villagers from Shiggaon taluk visited the hospital for treatment and asked Vanitha to address the overflowing toilet.
The patients cooperated, opening the pit and manually extracting the sewage with hospital-provided buckets. The police have now registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act, 1986, for endangering the safety of others, alongside provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, concerning insanitary latrines and the hazardous cleaning of sewers or septic tanks, along with penalties for violations.
Written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
