A late-night inspection by Tamil Nadu legislator Saravanan at the Government Hospital in Eral, under the Srivaikuntam Assembly constituency in Thoothukudi district, has triggered allegations that an on-duty doctor was harassed, according to a report by Dinamalar – Tamil Nadu.
The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam MLA reportedly visited the hospital at about 1 a.m. after receiving complaints that doctors and nurses were not available during night hours. He inspected rooms in both the old and new hospital buildings during a visit that lasted around 15 minutes.
According to the report, no patients were present at the hospital at the time. The doctor on duty, identified as 32-year-old Nithish, was resting in his room when Saravanan called him and questioned how emergency treatment could be provided if doctors and nurses were absent when patients arrived at night.
The report said the doctor attempted to respond, but the MLA allegedly addressed him in an inappropriate informal manner. Two people accompanying Saravanan reportedly recorded the interaction on a mobile phone. The footage was later published as a social media reel on the MLA’s page with a description portraying the inspection as a late-night visit carried out for public service.
The incident has since drawn criticism from the Government Doctors’ Association and other organisations, Dinamalar reported. The criticism centres on whether resting during a long night duty shift, when no patients are present, amounts to a failure of duty.
The report stated that doctors may be assigned 24-hour duties once a week or once every four days. Under the rule described in the report, doctors may rest when time is available during such a shift, provided they are immediately available to attend to patients who arrive for treatment. It added that no patients were present during the MLA’s inspection and that the doctor’s rest was therefore not considered improper under that arrangement.
The dispute places the practical conditions of emergency staffing in government hospitals alongside the question of how public representatives conduct inspections. A hospital’s night-time readiness depends not only on whether staff are physically visible at every moment, but also on whether the duty doctor can respond immediately when an emergency arrives. The supplied report does not state whether any patient was denied treatment or whether an official departmental inquiry has been ordered.
Dinamalar also referred to several earlier controversies involving Saravanan, including allegations related to online lottery sales, a complaint concerning assistance to accused persons in a sexual assault case involving a woman office-bearer of his party, an inspection of a lorry tyre carrying ration commodities, an alleged exchange with a woman tahsildar and an alleged attempt to collect money at the Eral market. These references were presented as background to the latest controversy and were not independently examined in the report.
The latest dispute remains centred on the competing accounts of a night inspection, the doctor’s conduct during duty and the manner in which the interaction was recorded and published. The report did not include a response from the doctor, the district health administration or the MLA to the allegations raised by doctors’ organisations.
