UP doctor makes 4-year-old smoke cigarette to ‘treat’ cold, removed after video goes viral (WATCH)

A government doctor in Uttar Pradesh's Jalaun district was removed after a video showed him purportedly making a 4-year-old boy smoke a cigarette to “treat” cold, an official said on Wednesday. An FIR has been registered against the doctor and he has been removed from the Community Health Centre (CHC).

According to reports, the incident took place on March 28 when the boy’s parents brought him to the hospital for a cold.

The video, which quickly went viral on social media, shows Dr Suresh Chand then posted at the Community Health Centre (CHC) handing a cigarette to a young boy who had come for treatment. He then lit the cigarette up and asked the boy many times to smoke it.

The parents were first asked to make him smoke Gudang Garam cigarette as he said it would loosen up the cough and the boy would feel better. He did not prescribe it. However, when the parents told him the cigarette was not available in such a remote area, the doctor said he had it and also allegedly charged the boy’s family Rs 100 for one cigarette, said an official.

Responding swiftly to the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds the health portfolio, condemned the act and ordered an FIR to be filed against the doctor. Dr. Suresh Chand has since been removed from his post at the CHC.