No more ‘idol worship’ at SAT hospital premises

Thiruvananthapuram: As the superstitious practice of turning a statue into a ‘divine idol’ continues unabated, the Medical College authorities finally decided to act. The sculpture of a mother breast feeding an infant erected in front of the SAT Hospital has been used by bystanders and patients of the hospital as a prayer spot for quite some time.

On Saturday that the hospital authorities erected a board with a statement from Medical College superintendent M S Sharmad that warns against practice of lighting candles and burning incenses and forming crowds in the area as the statue is close to the oxygen plant and casualty. The board also clears superstitions by stating that the statue was erected as part of beautification process.

The mother and child sculpture was made by sculptor Aryanad Rajendran for SAT hospital.

“The mother and child sculpture was erected as part of the campus beautification process back then. Now, people consider it as a religious idol and pay tributes to it. This will create distraction for other people who visit the hospital for various medical needs. We have concerns about emission of fumes and lighting of the candles due to proximity of liquid medical oxygen tank to the statue,” said Sudhakaran C, sergeant of security wing in SAT hospital.

However, the board could do little to diminish the beliefs of the patients and bystanders.

“It is the belief that the statue holds a spiritual power that made us to consider it as an idol. My daughter, who was admitted in the maternity ward, was affected with fever two days back. I prayed for her speedy recovery and now the medical reports show that she is perfectly alright,” said Ponnamma, a resident of Nedumangad.

Sulochana, a resident of Kottarakkara, too narrated how the idol was her support at the time of her daughter’s operation.

Lizy, a resident of Pathanapuram, said that she sought apology to the statue as she could not light a candle due to the new directive from hospital authorities. She wanted to light a candle for her daughter admitted in the maternity ward.