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Three junior doctors and a staff nurse were suspended from duty at Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College and Hospital (SABVGMC) in Faridabad over their absence from the emergency ward during duty hours earlier this month, hospital officials said.

Faridabad government hospital suspended four staff members after they were found absent from the emergency ward during duty hours, officials said.The suspension order, issued on July 10, follows a verbal complaint from a patient who had come to the hospital on the night of July 3.

Hospital officials said the reason for the staff’s absence was yet to be determined.

“This is serious negligence that compromises patient safety, which is why such strict action was taken against the concerned people,” hospital director Devender Kumar Atal said.

He alleged that the nurse is a repeat offender who was previously warned. “According to CCTV recordings, the nurse was absent continuously for three days during her night shift hours. She could not provide a valid reason for her absence,” Atal told HT.

The junior doctors were suspended for seven days by the administration and are likely to be terminated since they were deployed on a contractual basis, he said, adding that the staff nurse, a permanent employee of the hospital, will face further enquiry in the case, the director said.

This follows a series of hospital safety and staff lapses reported in various southern Haryana districts like Gurugram, Palwal, and Nuh.