Mumbai:
Manoj Surve, ward boy of a Goregaon-based hospital, was arrested by the police yesterday, for allegedly molesting a doctor, admitted there to undergo a piles operation.
According to the complaint registered with the police, the victim, a Bangalore-based dentist, was admitted to Kapadia Hospital at MG Road in Goregaon (West).
The victim said on Wednesday that Dr Rajan Modi operated upon her, after administering local anesthesia. While she was being brought back to her ward, Surve allegedly molested her. "I was in my senses and could discern that the molestation was intentional," said the victim. "I wonder what indignities the unconscious patients are subjected to," she added. The victim said that she could sense the ward boy groping her on three occasions.
Soon after the incident, she approached the doctor and his wife to report the incident. However, they refused to take her claims seriously, or acknowledge the incident. "They said that the ward boy could not commit such a base act," complained the victim. She further claimed that though the discharge time was 7.30 pm, the hospital staff, annoyed with her allegations, violated norms to discharge her before time.
When her complaints fell on deaf ears, she finally approached the Goregaon police. The police officials recorded her statement and arrested Surve under Section 354 (molestation). "We arrested Surve and produced him before the court. He was remanded to judicial custody," said Surendra Paithankar, senior Police Inspector of Goregaon police station.
"This is a glaring example of how women patients are unsafe in hospitals. I was reminded of the horrific rape of nurse Aruna Shanbaug, at another Mumbai hospital," said the victim, who pursued dentistry in Mumbai, before shifting to Bangalore to set up practice a year ago.
When contacted, the chief surgeon and proprietor of the hospital, Rajan Modi, told MiD DAY, "Yes, Surve is on the payrolls of our hospital and has been working here for the last 15 years. No such complaint has been received against him in the past. After the surgery, Surve was covering the complainant with a blanket while transporting her to the ward. At that time, Surve's hand grazed the complainant's chest. The complainant is making a mountain out of a mole hill."