Did CMC of Vellore ask ailing child’s parents to convert as precondition for treatment?

The famous Christian Medical College (CMC) of Vellore has outraged the doctors’ fraternity — that takes the Hippocratic oath of serving all the diseased — by allegedly asking the parents of an ailing child to convert to Christianity as a precondition for the patient’s treatment, reported a journalist of Organiser.

But the Hindu family did not have to convert, as another medical facility, BLDE Hospital, extended help for the treatment of their three-year-old son suffering from Thalassemia.

Iranna Nagur (34), an employee of a dhaba (hotel) and a resident of Basavana Bagewadi, was struggling to provide proper medical treatment to his only son because of poor financial conditions. He has already spent over Rs 3 lakh for the treatment of his son, according to a report in The New Indian Express that did not name CMC specifically but said the unethical demand was raised by “a hospital in Vellore of Tamil Nadu run by a Christian Missionary“.

Nagur travelled to several cities in southern India, looking for better medical treatment for his ailing son. Running from pillar to post, he came across the Christian-run medical college in Vellore (CMC?) that reportedly assured of helping him on certain conditions, including offering prayers at a church for at least two months.

The distraught father of the patient said, “I was exhausted as I could not get any financial support from anywhere for the treatment of my son. I used to earn Rs 12,000 per month but I was forced to spend nearly half of the earnings for the medical treatment of my son..”

“When I had been to the hospital in Vellore, they promised me of making all the arrangements, including Rs 10 lakh for the bone marrow surgery of my son with the condition of offering daily prayers at church,” Nagur said.

“The talks were also held about the conversion to Christianity. I was determined to accept Jesus because the hospital authorities had promised to take care of all the medical expenses of my son,” detailed Iranna Nagur who has three children including two daughters.

The family has now dropped the plans of converting to Christianity after Congress MLA MB Patil, who is also the chairman of the BLDE Association, came to know about the family’s plight and directed the officials of BLDE Hospital to provide treatment for free.