No male attendants in wards for women at JJ

No male attendants in wards for women at JJ
Express News Service

December 26: The administration of JJ Hospital today issued an order by which male attendants and wardboys have been debarred from doing duties in female wards. This follows the recent sensitive case in which a wardboy, Gurunath Sherlekar, molested a female patient in ward 10, while he was pretending to help her to go to the toilet.

Though the incident took place on December 9, the hospital adminstration had not intimated the police till the patient's relative made a police complaint. However, during this entire period, the wardboy continued to be on duty in the same ward, causing immense mental trauma to the patient.

The government finally took cognisance of this issue and suspended the wardboy last Thursday, sources said. Further to this action, hospital authorities have now said that no male wardboy will be allowed to work in the wards for women and if any male attendant is required to help in such a ward, this will be done under supervision of the senior officials.