Row after claims that ‘godman’ cured patient in Gujarat’s largest public hospital ICU

The video, uploaded as a reel on Instagram on Tuesday, shows a man, identified as Mukesh Bhuvaji of Nikol, wearing black trousers, a green t-shirt, and a face mask with collar earphones around his neck. He is seen entering the trauma building of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, going into the ICU and then roving his hand over a patient while muttering something.

Later, the residence of the patient is shown in the clip where Mukesh makes an entry while walking on a bed of rose and marigold petals. A veiled woman welcomes him, and performs aarti while a man garlands him and touches his feet before he enters the home. Another woman is then seen placing an urn filled with a red liquid (kumkum) in front of him. Mukesh dips his feet in the urn, and steps inside the house.

The video then again shows the patient and his wife. “Because of Mukesh Bhuvaji, my husband recovered and came back home,” the woman says. All through the video, a song hailing the self-styled godman plays in the background.

Replying to a question during a press briefing following a Cabinet meeting in Gandhinagar, Rushikesh Patel said that he saw the video. “We have instructed our Superintendent (of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital) Rakeshbhai (Joshi) to lodge a complaint,” Patel said.

While Medical Superintendent Dr Joshi is away on leave, he released a video statement saying, “I was sent the video and I have seen it. We are investigating the incident. CCTV footage continues to be checked but it primarily appears that he entered the hospital in casual clothes during the night hours, and appears to have entered the premises and ICU posing as a relative of the patient.”

“Medical treatment is extremely important. Patients recover due to treatment and not by such rituals. From the video, it appears that the patient is already conscious and has been stepped down from the ventilator which means he was already on his way to recovery when this incident occurred,” he can be heard saying in the video.

Speaking to The Indian Express about the patient, Dr Joshi said, “This 38-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital on December 5 with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Chronic Liver Disease (CLD). He had suffered from acute kidney failure due to which he had to be put on ventilator support. Hemodialysis (blood filtration) was conducted two times on the patient.”

“The patient subsequently recovered, and was stepped down from ventilator support. This is when this man appears to have come and met him. The patient was then moved to a ward and discharged four days later,” said Dr Joshi, adding, “It is very unfortunate that the family believes that their patient was saved by this man and not the doctors who treated him.”

Confirming that no complaint was filed in this regard till Wednesday night, inspector JD Zala of Shahibaug police station said, “We were just given a letter from the hospital saying that this video has been uploaded and that it is problematic. We have noted this in the station diary. However, we are still waiting for someone to file a complaint in the matter.”