In an incident of alleged religious based discrimination, and a consequence of communalising the COVID-19 pandemic, a children's hospital in Karimnagar district of Telangana allegedly denied treatment to its Muslims patients.
An audio conversation purportedly between a staff member and a Muslim woman has gone viral, prompting politicians like Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and Majlis Bachao Tehreek leader Amjed Ullah Khan to seek action against the hospital.
In the audio conversation, the woman can be heard asking if the doctor was available. The hospital staff responds, “Doctor is there, but he won’t be treating Muslims.” The person then suggests the patient or family should buy medicines from a pharmacy store and not visit the hospital.
Seeking a probe into the tape, Asaduddin sought the intervention of Director General of Police, P Mahender Reddy and Karimnagar Commissioner, Kamalasan Reddy.
"Request you to verify & take strict action against this "communal virus" that has now spread to essential healthcare providers. If we don't contain it in time, it'll only endanger innocent Muslim lives." (sic) Asaduddin tweeted.
. @TelanganaDGP @cpkarimnagar @TelanganaHealth request you to verify & take strict action against this "communal virus" that has now spread to essential healthcare providers. If we don't contain it in time, it'll only endanger innocent Muslim lives pic.twitter.com/anC2EFXnl3
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) April 13, 2020
TNM tried contacting the hospital to verify the allegation against them. However, the hospital couldn't be reached.
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Karimnagar Town, Ashok said that they haven't received any complaint regarding the issue.
Karimnagar district is one of the COVID-19 hotspots in the state. In fact, it was the first district in the state to be declared as a ‘containment zone.’
The cluster was identified after a group of Indonesian nationals were detained by police, and after carrying out tests, they tested positive for the disease. Shortly, the area where the Indonesian nationals were staying was sealed off, and a massive exercise of identifying the infected was carried out within 5 km radius of the area. Presently, all these foreigners who had come for the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi have recovered from the disease. However, they were slapped with cases for violating their visa rules.