A cancer hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district has asked new Muslim patients and their caretakers to come for treatment after undergoing the test for the novel coronavirus and only if the results are negative.

In an advertisement in a leading Hindi daily, Meerut’s Valentis Cancer Hospital said India, despite its huge population, had fared well in containing COVID-19 which has already caused over 1,00,000 deaths.

The hospital also alleged the number of infections had shot up unexpectedly after several members of the Tablighi Jamaat, a religious group, “spread to various parts of the country and went into hiding.”

It said there had been several instances of medical staff, police and other members coming under attack, adding some patients at the Velentis had also refused to accept the instructions and used unparliamentary language.

A photograph of the half-page advertiesement published in a leading Hindi news daily on April 17.

It said the aforementioned rule will remain enforced till the Coronavirus pandemic lasts.

In a report published in The Wire, Dr Amit Jain, a radiation oncologist and part of the management team at the Valentis Hospital claimed “all but two cases in Meerut are connections of the Tablighi Jamaat.”

The same report, however, debunked the claim, citing the information released by the directorate of health services Lucknow. It said that 70 patients from Meerut have tested positive for COVID-19. Of these, 46 were connected to the Tablighi Jamaat gathering.

The new hospital policy makes some exemptions. It says the new policy doesn’t apply to Muslims who are doctors, paramedics, judges, police personnel, teachers and “other Muslim brothers who don’t live in densely populated Muslim areas”.

District Administration, Meerut, has asked the hospital to issue an apology or its licence will be suspended.

“By discriminating on the basis of religion the hospital has violated medical ethics. We will issue a notice to the hospital and it will have to issue offer a public apology.

“If it doesn’t do so its license will be suspended for discriminating on the basis of religion,” Meerut chief medical officer Raj Kumar told The Wire.