The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday backed the Bulandshahr district hospital staff a day after two ward boys were shown on TV giving injections and stitches to patients.
Ayub and Shiva were caught on camera tending to the injured in the presence of senior doctors, triggering an outrage. A probe was ordered.
On Tuesday, additional director (health) Vinod Kumar almost gave a clean chit to chief medical superintendent Dr Shishir Kumar and his team.
Though technically the men couldn’t treat patients since they were not qualified hands, “he (Ayub) has acquired reasonable skills while working as an assistant in the operation theatre”, Vinod Kumar said.
Hospital officials said the men had been acting as operation theatre attendants for a decade and had picked up skills. On July 3, as on a few earlier occasions, they were asked to help to cope with a rush of accident victims.
“The hospital has just five registered surgeons. Our aim was to provide the injured persons immediate medical assistance to save their lives,” said Dr Shishir Kumar.