Probe ordered after woman was branded as HIV positive

Gandhinagar, June 21 : The Gujarat government has ordered an inquiry after staff of a hospital pasted a tape on the forehead of a pregnant woman, branding her as an HIV positive.

The 27-year-old woman was in the state-run Guru Gobindsingh Hospital of Jamnagar, about 400 km from here, for a brief while and was discharged Saturday. During her stay there, some employees had stuck a medical adhesive tape on her forehead.

As rights activists protested the inhuman treatment of the woman, the state government asked three employees to proceed on leave and ordered an inquiry.

"Both the doctors involved and a nurse has been asked to go on leave and an inquiry has been ordered. The report is expected within three days," Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas said here Sunday.

Hospital authorities have said that a nurse had been told to mark the patient so that she can be provided proper treatment.