JAIPUR: Patient care to the next level in two government hospitals in Rajasthan by playing Gayatri Mantra in labour rooms and delivery wards.
According to a report in Times of India, the incident came to light when Muslims objected to the development, terming it against Islam.
They said that the first noise a Muslim newborn hears should be listening is the Azaan and not the Gayatri Mantra. “According to Islam, the first voice to go in the ears of a newborn should be of Azaan,” Ashfaque Kayamkhani, one of the protesters, was quoted as saying in the report.
“We are a secular country and such things cannot be recommended. We have not issued orders asking health department officials to play Gayatri Mantra in labour rooms. We have sent our own audio, which has healing and meditation sounds, to the officials concerned to play these in labour rooms. Maybe some officials are not using the audio that the state has sent. It will be verified” a state health department official said.
The report quotes Dr Tejram Meena, the chief medical and health officer (CMHO) of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan confirming that health centres are playing the Gayatri Mantra.
“We are playing Gayatri mantra in the labour room of our district hospital. We will soon expand it to all the 20 labour rooms at other health centres in the district. If a woman listens to the Gayatri Mantra, she does not feel the pain of labour,” she said.