Authorities at the Guru Govind Singh Government Hospital, Jamnagar, put an ‘HIV-positive’ sticker on the forehead of a 25-year-old pregnant woman and paraded her in the hospital in the presence of her six-month-old daughter and mother-in-law on Saturday.

According to health activist Nisha Jani of Jamnagar District Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, the woman had visited the hospital on Wednesday. Dr Nalini Anand, the head of gynaecology department, and Dr Dipti Joshi examined her.

Her medical examination revealed that she was in the second month of pregnancy, and since she was HIV-positive, she was advised to abort. Accordingly, the woman, accompanied by her daughter and mother-in-law, visited the hospital on Saturday morning for the abortion.

The woman told social activists later that nurse Prafulla Ramani had pasted the label with HIV-positive written on it, asking her to stand separately from the queue. It was a health activist who spotted her moving with the label and alerted his colleagues.

After the blood reports came, alleged the woman, the doctors and other staff “humiliated” her by sticking the label on her forehead and paraded her in the hospital. She claimed that the doctors refused to treat her. Meanwhile, Dr Anand described it as an “unfortunate incident” and apologised to the patient. “It should not have happened. Nobody should have behaved in such a manner,” she said.

As angry human rights activists staged a protest against the incident, the state Health Department asked Dr Anand, Dr Joshi and Nurse Ramani “to go on a leave”. The hospital superintendent has ordered an inquiry into the matter.