Teacher claims the staff treated her 'worse than an animal'
A kindergarten teacher yesterday said she was treated 'worse than an animal' by medical staff at a private clinic after an X-ray showed she had contracted pneumonia.
Kabeeta Gurung, who was discharged from Queen Mary Hospital yesterday after it was confirmed she had not been infected with atypical pneumonia but a common strain of the condition, said she was outraged at the reaction and treatment she received at the hands of a clinical technician and other staff at a Central clinic.
'The technician took my X-ray into a doctor's room. When she came back out, she looked panic-stricken and just said to me: 'You. You have it. You have pneumonia.'
'She then told another lady waiting in the same room to leave and ordered me to go and stand in the corner. By this stage, my heart was racing. I had no idea what was going on,' Ms Gurung said.
The frightened patient was told to see her doctor immediately. 'They kept their distance and just threw a face mask at me, telling me I had to wear that for the protection of others. I was shaking and fumbling with the mask so one grudgingly helped me,' she said.
Ms Gurung said that as she left the clinic to return to her doctor, two of the staff came running after her, telling her she would need to go straight to hospital instead.
