Coimbatore hospital drops Hindi from medicine covers after DMK leader’s criticism

The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on Tuesday, October 6, replaced medicine covers carrying instructions in Hindi, Tamil, and English after the covers triggered a row over Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy.

The move came after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former Industries Minister TRB Rajaa criticised the use of Hindi on the covers, saying it appeared that a three-language policy was being implemented in government hospitals. Similar covers had also been used at the Government Medical College Hospital in Karur, which has also stopped using them.

According to CMCH resident medical officer B Saravanapriya, the covers were not newly introduced and had been in use for more than 18 months, including under the previous government. “These covers are being printed at Chinthamani Cooperative Society with funds from sponsors,” she told The Times of India. 

The hospital has instructed pharmacists to stop using the trilingual covers and switch to new covers containing only Tamil and English. Staff have also been told to manually stamp dosage instructions on plain covers and fill them in according to each patient’s prescription before handing over medicines.

The printed instructions were used to indicate when and how often medicines should be taken. However, pharmacists at CMCH have raised concerns that removing the Hindi instructions could make it harder for migrant workers who do not understand Tamil or English to follow their prescriptions.

Pharmacists also pointed to an existing manpower shortage, saying that explaining dosage instructions individually to such patients would take additional time. CMCH handles around 3,000 to 4,500 outpatients every day, including a significant number of migrant workers from Coimbatore and surrounding areas.

Rajaa had posted photographs of the medicine covers on X, writing, “It seems like the three-language policy is being implemented in Tamil Nadu hospitals too! First Karur... Now the same situation in Coimbatore as well.”

The controversy first surfaced after photographs of similar covers from the Government Medical College Hospital in Karur appeared on social media. The covers carried dosage instructions in Tamil, English, and Hindi, prompting criticism from DMK leaders, including Pudukottai MLA V Muthuraja, who questioned the use of Hindi and linked it to the wider debate over Tamil Nadu’s language policy.

The row comes days after Hindi appeared on a State Highways Department signboard in Thoothukudi district, prompting criticism. The Tamil Nadu government subsequently removed the Hindi lettering and suspended two officials over the signboard.