Hindu activists order hospital nurses not to wear crosses, accuse them of converting patients

Christian nurses in Andhra Pradesh have refused to comply with a mandate issued by a radical Hindu group, backed by the local police of not to wear religious symbols like crosses while on duty.

The directive came in a memorandum submitted to the superintendent of state–managed Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

According to the hospital superintendent, Dr. A.Y. Chary, a group of 20 Hindu right–wing Bajrang Dal activists, stormed into the office of the nursing superintendent and forcibly removed the picture of Jesus Christ hanging there.

Though the police have registered a case against the act of trespass, after the hospital management complained, yet, no arrests had been made so far, Dr. Chary said.

The Bajrang Dal activists have argued that religious symbols like crosses are not part of the official dress code for nurses and that wearing a cross could influence a patient to religious conversion, Dr. Chary added.

Sr. Margaret Mary Joan, president of the Gandhi Hospital Nurses Association, have dismissed the allegations leveled by the Hindu extremsists, saying that her staff had "absolutely no idea" about wanting to convert people.

Speaking to UCA News, she said that no nurse in the hospital has engaged in religious activity or conversion. Sr. Joan acknowledged, however, that nurses have fulfilled some patients' request for prayers. "Even Hindu patients make such requests, as they notice the efficacy of such prayers," she explained.

Meanwhile, Dr. Chary has brushed off the directive of the Bajrang Dal activists, saying that they posed no physical harm to the nurses. According to him, problems arise only when people act as vigilantes by taking the law into their hands. As long as nothing disrupts the hospital's normal functioning, the hospital authorities "have no problem if a religious portrait is kept in a room or some staff members wear religious symbols while on duty."

More than 80 percent of the hospital's 225 nurses are Christians, he noted.

However, far from letting the issue die over, the Hindu activists have reportedly submitted to the local police some video clips of religious activities taking place in the hospital.

"The police had to intervene and arrive at a settlement, and we have given instructions to the staff not to indulge in any religious activity in the hospital," Dr. Chary said.

According to Sr. Joan the video clips showed some pastors and others, but no nurses, praying for the patients or distributing something to them during the hospital's visiting hours. The police have instructed the nurses not to wear crosses on their uniform while on duty, she added.

"There are several statues and portraits of Hindu deities all over the hospital and the hospital allows the public to sing hymns praising these deities on its premises," Sr. Joan noted. "In contrast, the only Christian image in the hospital was that of Lord Jesus Christ in the office of the nursing superintendent which is frequented only by the nurses."

"We are concerned about the future," she added. "We have no guarantee (the BD) activists will not come again under one pretext or other."

According to UCA News, the hospital superintendent has already apologized to the nurses for the breach of security when the Bajrang Dal activists stormed the nursing superintendent's office.

Though hospital authorities have claimed that the issue was already settled, yet, a group called Christian Front is vehemently protesting against the incident, promising to take legal action against the culprits if the hospital management continued to remain silent on the matter.