Hospital in Lucknow asks nurses to shoo away dogs, retracts order after backlash

A state-run hospital in Lucknow on Friday issued a directive to the nurses asking them to chase away street dogs from hospital wards .

Hours after the “order” evoked sharp response from the nursing staff, the hospital administration issued a clarification insisting that security guards and not nurses will clear wards of stray dogs.

“There was a typing error. The letter that read all ward sisters has now been corrected. It asks security guards to ensure that dogs are chased away from the campus,” said the fresh order issued from the office of director and chief superintendent of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital.

The letter dated August 30 was circulated among the staff late on Thursday evening.

However, when it went viral on WhatsApp groups of medical staff across the state capital, and drew criticism, it was corrected early on Friday morning.

“Are we supposed to chase stray animals? What will security guard and municipal staff do,” asked one of the nurses, not willing to be named.

The letter stated that street animals have been spotted on hospital campus and they can be dangerous for patients and their attendants as well. “We agree to this point. But this is not the job of medical staff,” said another nurse.

The hospital has about 200 nurses.

The order is also being seen as fallout of the incident at Lucknow’s Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where stray animals had eaten parts of a body in the morgue on Sunday (August 27).

Shashi Singh, a senior nurse and general secretary of state employees joint council (JN Tiwari group), said stray animals are a menace and can surely hurt children and other patients. “Several times municipal authorities have been approached but nothing has happened,” said Singh, who is also general secretary of UP Nurses Association.

The hospital campus has four entrances and they remain open for over 12 hours a day.

During the night, only an emergency gate is kept open. Though guards are deployed but they fail to check entry of stray animals inside the hospital campus. As a result, dogs can be seen roaming in the OPD corridor and other places on the campus.