The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS)-Patna form begins like "I… declare as under".
A premier hospital in Patna has stirred up a controversy by asking its doctors, nurses and other staff members to reveal their 'virginity' and number of wives etc, in a Marital Status declaration form.
Established in November 1983, the IGIMS is an autonomous organisation under the government of Bihar, on the pattern of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The Health Minister of Bihar is the ex-officio chairman of the governing body of the institute while senior officials of the state government constitute ex-officio members of the Board.
The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS)-Patna form begins like "I… declare as under".
In the next coloumn asks employees whether he or she is a "bechelor/widower/virgin".
The other coloumns in the form are also controversial. It asks male employees if they are "married and have only one wife living". It further asks a male employee if he is "married and has more than one wife". From its female employees, the declaration seeks to know if they are "married to a person who has no other wife living" or "married to a person who has another wife living".
The hospital administration, however, has defended the form by saying that it is a general process which has been practiced at the hospital for many years now. "What is meant by virginity here is unmarried or spinster. It probably is an editorial oversight," a senior hospital staff told DNA.
The Deputy Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Manish Mandal, said that the form being used at IGIMS was on the lines of that being used by AIIMS-Delhi and the central government. "The format is very old and all employees have filled it," he said.
Mandal conceded that the usage of the word virginity was not proper and a better word could have been used in its place. However, any change in the declaration format has to come from the government and the hospital only did what as asked of it, another doctor said.
The bizarre declaration form has not just raked up a controversy in the state but also made the hospital the butt of jokes on various social media platforms.
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 "IGIMS-declaration form")
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