Doctors in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, are using the help of non-medical staff in various health check procedures due to a lack of workforce in hospitals.
At the Ursula Horsman Hospital, patients' relatives said that non-medical staff were treating the injured callously.
"No, I don't think that he was a doctor. What can we say; he looked like a normal person. He was forcefully stitching a man's head. The injured was writhing in pain. His wounds were being stitched very severely," said Neeraj, a relative of a patient.
Kin of patients accused the hospital authorities of apathy, as the wounded and sick were seen lying on the floor without any medical attention as they writhed in pain.
However, the hospital authorities denied the accusations levelled against them and said that proper treatment was being meted out to the injured.
"Those on duty would attend to the patients. Stitches would be done when we take the patient in the OT (Operation Theatre). The surgeons would stitch the wounds. They only give first aid by treating the wounds or to stop the bleeding. The rest we refer to the surgeons and he stitches the wounds," said Pramod Singh, emergency in charge.
Unconscious patients in appalling health conditions lay outside the locked chamber of the chief medical officer.
Hundreds of people visit the hospital on a daily basis to receive medical aid. However, they revealed that untrained people, without proper understanding of first aid, were putting patients on intravenous drips of glucose and performing complex medical procedures, which include stitching injuries and cuts.
Several reports of medical negligence have surfaced in the last month, as over 10 infants died in southern Andhra Pradesh state due to lack of timely medical care.
On Sunday, reports surfaced of 23 thalassamic children who were infected with HIV after they underwent blood transfusion at a government hospital in Gujarat.