Dhanbad Shocker: Hospital staff make to strip for asking DRM's wife to remove shoes, colleagues boycott OPD services

Dhanbad: The situation at Dhanbad divisional railway hospital remained tense after the health staff of the hospital boycotted OPD services on Friday, demanding action against the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) for subjecting their colleague to intense humiliation and harassment.   

The incident took place after the wife of the DRM came to the hospital on Thursday to get treated by a dentist. The OPD attendant Basant Updhayay reportedly asked her to remove her shoes before entering.  

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After two hours, Updhayay was taken to the office of the DRM by the chief medical officer Dr DL Chourasia in his car, where Updhayay was harassed and humiliated. He was reportedly sent back in a semi-naked condition, as per a media report in Lagatar 24.

The incident has affected the mental health of Updhayay, who is currently undergoing treatment at Asarfi Hospital for depression. He narrated the incident to the hospital employees after he came for his duty the next morning. They said that the DRM also threatened to issue a chargesheet against him. After the news spread, the hospital staff decided to go on strike by boycotting the OPD services from 10 am to 12.30 pm. They demanded action against the DRM. 

The hospital staff said that their colleague was humiliated inside the chamber of the divisional office and was sent back half-naked for asking Manager's wife to remove her shoes before entering the Dentist's OPD. The staff surrounded the CMO while demanding an apology and written assurance from him that no such incident would ever occur again. 

Speaking to the Times of India, one of the protesters said, "When the attendant asked her to leave her slippers outside the doctor's chamber, she ignored him and went in. After some time, the chief medical superintendent took Upadhyay to DRM's office where he was scolded by the DRM for 'daring' to ask his wife to leave her slippers outside. Later, Sinha's assistant made Upadhyay open his trousers and shirt outside the DRM's office and asked him to go home without them." 

The ADRM Ashish Jha and senior divisional commerce manager (Sr DCM) Amrendra Kumar reached the site after they got to know about the boycott. They said, "After getting information about chaos in the hospital we reached here to solve the problem." 

After the CMO gave a written assurance and apology, the hospital staff eventually called off the boycott keeping in mind the critical patients of the hospital.