Meerut hospital’s advt denying admission to Muslims disappears from social media

Barely 60 KMs from the national capital, a private cancer hospital appears to have got away with what was condemned as bigotry.

Valentis Cancer Hospital had released an advertisement on April 17 during the current lockdown that the hospital would not admit Muslims. With even the Government profiling COVID-19 patients and a vicious campaign in the media blaming Tablighi Jamaat’s congregation in Delhi in particular and Muslims in general for spreading the virus, the advertisement drew immediate attention.

Screenshots of the advertisement in Dainik Jagran, the most widely circulated Hindi newspaper in the region, were widely shared both here and abroad. It caused a backlash in West Asian countries, in the UAE and the Gulf.

The advertisement blandly stated, “Several Muslim patients are not following the guidelines (like using masks etc.) and they are misbehaving with hospital staff. For hospital staff and patients’ security, the hospital administration requests all new Muslim patients that they, and one designated caregiver, get tested for coronavirus and visit the hospital only if their reports are negative,” adding that the “Rules do not apply to Muslim doctors, para medical staff, Judges, police officers, Shias and Muslims who are not living in densely populated areas.”

The advertisement also offended Hindus and Jains by gratuitously appealing to “the well-off Hindu/Jain families, who are mostly misers” to contribute to the PM Cares fund.

The next day the hospital issued a clarification in the same Hindi daily saying, “We have come to know that some people connected to Hindu and Jain communities have been hurt by the information and request published by the Valentis Hospital. It is known to everyone that Hindu and Jain communities have always been front runners in social work and charity. A wrong message was published by mistake. We deny that and regret and apologise for the same…we never intended to hurt anyone’s feelings. If we have hurt anyone’s feelings, we are sorry for the same.”

As for the notice of not allowing Muslims, there was no denial nor any effort to amend that notice by Dr Amit Jain, the owner of Valentis Hospital.

After the advertisement caused an international embarrassment, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Meerut said he had sent a notice to the hospital. For good measure SSP Meerut said he had ordered registration of an FIR against the hospital management.

But while there was never any expectation of any penal action by the government or any move to suspend the hospital’s license, the mysterious disappearance of the screenshots from social media surprised many. It had been deleted overnight and even those who had ‘liked’ or retweeted the screenshot of the advertisement with their comments found it missing from their timeline. Dr Jain clearly is an important and influential man to pull it off so dramatically.

Attempts to trace the advertisement on social media and the newspaper’s website turned out to be futile. Calls to the hospital were received by a gentleman who introduced himself as Kirti and confirmed that the advertisement was ‘corrected’. When he was asked to furnish the ‘corrected’ or revised advertisement, he gave the number of Dr Amit Jain.

This writer asked Dr Jain if he had corrected the hospital’s position vis-à-vis Muslims. He said, “You have got it all wrong. Please read the advertisement carefully.”

He was requested to post or forward the corrected advertisement. But it had not been forwarded at the time of writing.

(This report will be updated as and when we hear from the hospital)