Sharmili Mallick

Malkangiri: A week after TikTok videos of four nurses recorded inside the Sick and Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the District Headquarters Hospital in Malkangiri went viral on social media, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Ajit Kumar Mohanty today issued a directive prohibiting the entry and use of mobile phones in sensitive & critical care units of the Hospital.

The CDMO has imposed restrictions on taking mobile phones into the SNCU, Intensive Care Units (ICUs), Operation Theatres (OTs) & Labour rooms of the DHH in order to prevent any kind of untoward incidents during treatment of patients.

“The instructions regarding the restriction of mobile phones into sensitive areas of the hospital were already in place but they were not strictly implemented,” said CDMO Ajit Kumar Mohanty.

Earlier on June 28, Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das has sought a report from the concerned hospital officials to explain about the action against the four nurses featured in the TikTok videos.

On June 26, multiple videos of the four on-duty nurses- Ruby Ray, Tapasi Biswas, Swapna Bal and Nandini Ray- frolicking and playing with a newborn inside the SNCU of the DHH had gone viral on social media.

Following the incident, the nurses were asked to go on compulsory leave for an indefinite period after show-cause notices were issued against them by the hospital authorities on charges of extreme medical negligence.

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