Probe ordered into doctor clicking selfie in OT

A probe was ordered into alleged clicking of a selfie by a doctor in an operation theatre (OT) of a government hospital in Odisha's Koraput district and circulation of the photo on social media, officials said on Friday.

A woman in labour was rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) at Jeypore for delivery on Wednesday and a woman doctor clicked a selfie inside the OT with a group of doctors conducting operation in the background, they said.

It is illegal to carry mobile phone and clicking photos inside an OT. The circumstances in which the photo was taken and how it got circulated in social media are being inquired," said Lalit Mohan Rath, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Koraput.

 

After getting the inquiry report, necessary action will be taken, he said.

However, as the selfie photo started doing the rounds in social media, the district health administration drew flak from different quarters.

The OT is not a tourist spot to click photographs. How could the doctors be so negligent. Strict action should be taken against those responsible for clicking and circulating the photo. Also, strict instruction should be issued to prevent recurrence of such incident, said Ajit Sahu, a Jeypore based activist.

When contacted, the woman doctor Sasmita Das said it was a collective decision of all the doctors present inside the OT to take the photo and to upload it in the DHH WhatsApp group as operation took place for the first time at the hospital's OT after it was shifted to its new building at Phulobado, situated on the outskirts of Jeypore on October 15.

We were excited as operation started in the new DHH building and the photo was uploaded in out DHH WhatsApp group. I dont know how it got leaked to other groups and circulated in social media, she said

I had never thought that it will create problems and I am apologetic for it, she said.

It may be recalled that after the sub-divisional hospital of Jeypore was upgraded to a DHH on August 22, 2017, the DHH was shifted to Jeypore from Koraput on October 15 and is functioning inside the premises of mother and child ward situated at Phulobado.