UP govt sends team to probe child's circumcision at Bareilly hospital

Bareilly: The Uttar Pradesh government has sent a health department team to M Khan Hospital here which has been alleged to have circumcised a two-and-half-year-old child instead of a tongue surgery for which he was taken there.

In a tweet in Hindi on Saturday, UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds the health portfolio, said he has sent a health department team to the hospital to investigate the matter and strict action will be taken if the allegations are found to be true.

“If the complaint is found correct, orders have been given to the CMO, Bareilly, to register an FIR against the guilty doctor and hospital management, to cancel the registration of the said hospital with immediate effect, and to make the complete report of the proceedings available within 24 hours,” Pathak said.

“The said hospital will also be sealed on the basis of the report of the investigation,” he added.

District Magistrate, Bareilly, Shivakant Dwivedi on Sunday said that action against the hospital management will be taken only after the report of the three-member probe team constituted by the Chief Medical Officer comes.

The team was formed on Friday – the day the alleged incident took place.

According to Chief Medical Officer Dr Balbir Singh, the family had gone to the M Khan Hospital for treatment of the child’s stammer where they were suggested a tongue surgery. After the surgery, the child’s family alleged that the doctors, instead of performing a surgery on tongue, circumcised the child.

The matter also evoked a strong response from members of Hindu right organisations, who staged protests and raised slogans against the hospital.

Police were deployed outside the hospital to contain the agitation and prevent it from flaring up.