'Garba' in Gujarat hospital ICU - a la 'Munnabhai MBBS'!

Taking a leaf out of superhit Bollywood movie "Munnabhai MBBS", the medical and non-medical staff of a hospital here played 'garba' in full swing inside the intensive care unit, sparking all round outrage, officials said on Tuesday.

The 'garba' was performed on Monday afternoon at the Sola Civil Hospital where Health and Finance Minister Nitin Patel inaugurated a new kidney dialysis centre.

After he left, the hospital staff erupted into a spontaneous 'garba' to the accompaniment of loud music, celebrating the spirit of the ongoing navratri festival - albeit at the wrong venue at the wrong time.

As the young male and female doctors, many in their white overcoats, uniformed nurses, wardboys and wardgirls joined the dance and went around taking 'rounds' of the ICU, the shocked patients and their relatives kept watching dumbfounded.

Worse, many of the dancers were wearing shoes and slippers, which is barred as per ICU norms, creating a potential health hazard for the already suffering patients.

Strangely, the hospital administration seemed unaware of the loud dance and music on the premises but belatedly, medical superintendent H.K. Bhavsar ordered his flock to stop.

Taking a grim view of the incident, Bhavsar said he would serve showcause notices to all those who participated in the song-and-dance in the ICU.

Some reports on Tuesday suggested that the state government has sought a report on the incident which has led to outrage when a video clip of the garba was leaked on social media networks and local television channels.

The reactions ranged from bland humour to utter shock to sheer disbelief with some commenting how hospital staffers behave rudely and don't even permit mobile phones inside ICUs but did not shy away from breaking all rules themselves.

The incident was reminiscent of a lusty cabaret number, "Dekh Le.." enacted in a hospital male ward in the 2003 blockbuster 'Munnabhai MBBS' for a terminal patient, actor Jimmy Shergill, at the behest of his sympathisers Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi.