ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A video of a Mumbai cleaner giving a hospital patient an electrocardiogram has gone viral on the internet.

The clip shows former local corporator Ruksana Siddiqui challenging the unnamed cleaner on discovering that the man was not a trained medical professional.

The incident took place in December at the BMC-run Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi, Mumbai. Confirming the video's authenticity, hospital officials said this practice has been going on for years. "We requested BMC multiple times to hire more ECG technicians," said a senior doctor from the hospital. "The technology is advanced enough so that anyone can use it with a little training, so we work with the resources we have."

The doctor highlighted the broader issue of manpower shortage at local hospitals.
"There is at least a 35 per cent vacancy rate at our hospital across all Class 1 to 4 employee categories," he said. "BMC needs to address this urgently."

This is not the first time that a cleaner has been asked to step in to help with medical tasks. In May 2023 it emerged that a cleaner had been enlisted to assist with a toe amputation at Mainz University Hospital in western Germany.

The patient had begun to become restless after being given a local anaesthetic, so the doctor asked a nearby cleaner to hold the man's leg and hand him surgical instruments during the procedure.

The incident came to light after a hospital manager spotted the cleaner in the operating theatre with a bloody gauze pad in his hand. The doctor was later fired from his post.