A 58-year-old woman was allegedly made to clean the floor of Damoh district hospital after her ailing son soiled it while waiting for medical attention, prompting the hospital authorities to issue show-cause notices and order an internal inquiry. A video purportedly showing the incident circulated widely on social media on Sunday night.
The woman, identified as Halki Bai from Simariya village in the Tejgarh area of Madhya Pradesh, had taken her son to the hospital at night after he developed diarrhoea. According to the report, her son soiled the floor while waiting for a doctor to examine him. The nurse on duty allegedly handed Bai a mop and asked her to clean the area.
The video appears to show the elderly woman cleaning the floor while her son is seen nearby. The report described the footage as purported and said it triggered criticism of sanitation standards in government hospitals. The son was later discharged after his condition improved with treatment.
Hospital authorities said show-cause notices had been issued to the nursing officer on duty, the cleaning agency and the assistant hospital manager. Further action will be taken after the internal inquiry, according to the authorities. The notices place responsibility for examining the incident with both hospital personnel and the outsourced agency responsible for cleaning services.
The case has also become part of a political dispute over conditions in Madhya Pradesh government hospitals. Congress state president Jitu Patwari shared the video on Facebook and questioned the hospital administration and the state government. He asked whether hospitals lacked adequate cleaning staff or whether money allocated for sanitation was being lost to corruption. Those allegations were not independently established in the supplied report.
The hospital has approximately 52 outsourced cleaners and three supervisors, according to the report. The staffing figure is now central to the inquiry because the incident raises questions about how cleaning duties are assigned, how staff respond when a patient soils a public area and who supervises outsourced sanitation operations.
The episode highlights the practical role of cleaning systems in patient care, particularly in district hospitals where families often accompany patients and may wait for treatment in crowded conditions. It also places the conduct of frontline staff and the monitoring of contracted services under scrutiny. The hospital’s internal inquiry and the action taken after the show-cause notices will determine the next official response.
