Bengaluru Nurse Subjected To Hate For Not Knowing Kannada, Redditor Shares Incident – News18

There are many people in Bengaluru who face hostility for not speaking Kannada. There are countless instances about the same, including one where a woman was harassed by an auto driver for being a non-Kannadiga. Recently, another incident has come to light involving a nurse who was criticised by a patient’s family for not knowing the local language. According to a Redditor who witnessed the incident, the patient’s daughter not only lashed out at the nurse but also suggested she should return to her home state.

The title of the Reddit post, shared by user Ashwin_or_lose, reads, “Today I saw a nurse in Apollo Bannerghatta get scolded by a patient’s daughter beacuse she didn’t speak Kannada. Was told to go back to her home state.”

“She was helping the patient go on a wheelchair. Her daughter asked a question in Kannada but when the nurse didn’t understand and asked to repeat, the daughter burst out,” the Redditor claims.

He adds, “Bigger hospital chains probably should assign nurses based on language comfort of the patient. But scolding general nurses is not worth it. Bring your dissatisfaction to the management of any, being a Karen to nurses who are already overworked is not it.”

Take a look at the entire post here:

Today I saw a nurse in Apollo Bannerghatta get scolded by a patient’s daughter coz she didn’t speak Kannada. Was told to go back to her home state.

byu/Ashwin_or_lose inbangalore

The post, since being shared two days ago on Reddit, has accumulated close to 1,000 upvotes and still counting. Many even flocked to the comments section to share their thoughts.

Check out how people reacted to the post here:

“Once admitted in hospital for long, I was cared for by a Mallu nurse. She didn’t know a lot of English. I don’t know Malayalam. But she was proficient at work. Very timely and professional. Very good at her work. I would never want someone speaking my language instead of professional like her. Language is secondary, healthcare is more important. Doctor incharge knew English which was enough,” expressed an individual.

Another added, “You are spot on with your point and I 100% agree.”

“That’s just horrible. Nurses in general have a thankless job. They are overworked and underpaid in India. That patient’s daughter wouldn’t dare to treat a doctor the same way. Most of the doctors in the big hospitals are usually from outside Karnataka. But the patient would never say they prefer a kannadiga doctor to someone who is an expert in his field,” shared a third.

A fourth commented, “Appollo Bannerghatta road has some of the nicest nurses that genuinely care for you and are patient with scared people like me. While they may not know Kannada, most of them speak decent English. But what’s most important is their ethic towards work and behaviour which I found to be much more professional and gentle as compared to other hospitals. Not sure why language should be a barrier between two people, even when two people dont know a common language there is always a way to communicate and figure out. Secondly just because the nurse doesn’t know Kannada, it implies nothing about her knowledge of her work. If language is a compulsory factor to get jobs, half of us Indians shouldn’t be accepted in Western countries considering the pathetic English most of us speak.”

“This is so disgusting,” wrote a fifth.