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‘Clear human waste for better medicine,’ patients told; doctor, nurse suspended
The action follows viral videos showing two patients carrying buckets of sewage after the pit at the Haveri government hospital overflowed.
The Haveri police said the patients were offered better treatment and medicines in exchange for cleaning the pit. (AI enhanced video grab)
A doctor and a senior nurse in Karnataka’s Haveri district were suspended Monday for allegedly forcing two patients to clean an overflowing cesspit manually. The authorities have also booked them under sections of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
The Health and Family Welfare Department suspended Dr Shankar Y Hiregowdar and senior nurse Vanitha, who are attached to Savanur taluk hospital, pending department inquiry.
The district administration has also sought a report from Health Officer Dr Nagaraj.
“The pit started overflowing a couple of days ago, and Dr Hiregowdar had written a letter to municipal authorities on August 27. But when they did not receive any response, they employed the patients in manual scavenging,” a police officer said.
The police said the patients were offered better treatment and medicines in exchange for cleaning the pit.
Viral videos
Local residents captured images and videos of the patients carrying buckets of human waste, which was overflowing from the cesspit on hospital grounds on August 28. The videos and the photos have gone viral.
When the residents, who noticed the patients, questioned the hospital staff, Hiregowdar tried to evade them and asked them to send a municipal vehicle to clean the pit.
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In a complaint lodged on August 30, Tahasildar Ravikumar Nagappa Koravar said two villagers from Shiggaon taluk went to the hospital for treatment and approached Vanitha. She allegedly asked them to check the flooded toilet, identify the cause, and clear it.
The men reportedly opened the pit, found it full of sewage, and began removing the waste using buckets provided by the hospital.
The police have registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for endangering the life or personal safety of others, along with provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, relating to insanitary latrines, hazardous cleaning of sewers or septic tanks, and penalties for violations.
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