‘Give Us Female Staff for ECG Tests’: Kashmir Women Demand Privacy in Hospitals
Patients urge Health Department to ensure female personnel, private ECG rooms and choice wherever feasible
||Black and White Digital News ||
||Parvinder Singh Sept 29,2026 ||
SRINAGAR : Women patients across Kashmir are demanding access to female healthcare personnel for ECG examinations, saying privacy and dignity must be given greater importance in government hospitals.
The demand has been raised by women patients and their families who say the absence of a female staff option during ECG tests can cause discomfort, particularly for adolescent girls, elderly women and patients who have strong privacy preferences.
They have urged J&K Health and Medical Education Minister Sakina Itoo to take up the issue with hospital authorities and order a hospital-wise assessment of female staffing and privacy arrangements for ECG services.
“Privacy should not be a luxury when a woman walks into a government hospital.”
An ECG is a routine, non-invasive test that records the heart’s electrical activity. However, conducting the examination can require exposure of parts of the upper body.
Women raising the issue say they are not questioning the professionalism of male doctors or technicians. Their demand is for an additional option: where staffing permits, women should be able to request a trained female healthcare worker.
For patients, the issue is about choice, privacy and dignity—not exclusion.
Women’s have called for authorities to assess government hospitals across the Valley and identify facilities where female ECG personnel are unavailable.
They have suggested deploying trained female ECG technicians, nurses or other qualified personnel, including through designated shifts where round-the-clock female staffing is not immediately possible.
Patients also want hospitals to improve physical privacy inside ECG rooms through curtains, screens and appropriately arranged examination spaces.
YOUNG GIRLS, FAMILIES RAISE CONCERN
The concern is particularly pronounced among parents accompanying adolescent girls.
Families say the availability of female personnel can reduce hesitation and make young patients more comfortable while undergoing necessary diagnostic tests.
Women patients argue that privacy concerns should be accommodated wherever medically and operationally feasible, without delaying urgent investigations.
“The request is simple: let women receive essential tests without compromising their sense of privacy.”
The demand has also brought attention to the broader need for gender-sensitive healthcare services in government hospitals.
Women patients say public healthcare should address more than clinical requirements. The environment in which care is delivered, they argue, can also affect patient confidence and willingness to seek timely treatment.
A hospital-wise review of female staffing, patients’ privacy and existing ECG-room arrangements, they say, could identify practical gaps and possible solutions.
Women patients are calling for:
Female ECG technicians or trained female healthcare personnel
Designated female-staff shifts where feasible
Curtains/screens and proper privacy in ECG rooms
Hospital-wise assessment of female staffing
A mechanism for women patients to request female personnel
Clear protocols protecting patient privacy and dignity
The women raising the issue have appealed to the Health and Medical Education Department to examine the matter and take practical steps across government hospitals in Kashmir.
Their message is direct: women seeking medical care should not have to choose between receiving a necessary diagnostic test and maintaining their sense of privacy and dignity.
