Srinagar, Dec 20: A video showing a patient being taken out on a trolley from GMC Handwara after the CT scan machine stopped working has triggered public anger and the suspension of a junior doctor. The incident has raised serious questions about hospital infrastructure, accountability, and patient rights. Medical Superintendent of Government Medical College Hospital Handwara, Dr Aijaz Bhat, addressing the media, said the viral video was misleading and did not present the full facts. He said the hospital administration categorically rejects claims that the patient was forced outside due to a lack of facilities. Dr Bhat said the patient had arrived around noon after falling from a height while working. "He had a head injury but was fully conscious. Doctors assessed him at the casualty and recorded a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15 out of 15, indicating a stable condition," Dr Bhat said. "As per protocol, doctors advised an E FAST ultrasound first, which came out normal. A CT scan was advised later due to suspected skull injury." The MS said the CT scan machine developed a technical fault on the same day. Such breakdowns, he said, can occur even in newly installed machines and usually take one or two days to repair. Dr Bhat clarified that the CT facility at GMC Handwara has been operational for nearly 20 years and continues to serve patients. He said a new CT scanner has been installed and is ready, but a three-phase power connection is still pending with the executive agency of the new 200-bedded hospital. The Medical Superintendent said doctors had already been instructed to refer patients to SDH Kupwara or GMC Baramulla when CT services are temporarily unavailable. In this case, he said, the patient’s attendants acted in haste and did not give doctors time to complete the referral process. "Some unidentified persons allegedly told the attendants that CT scans were available outside. The attendants then took the patient out on a trolley. The security staff tried to stop them and requested them not to take the patient outside, which is against protocol. The patient’s father himself admitted on video that security personnel had tried to stop them," Dr Bhat said. On the suspension of the junior doctor, Dr Bhat said the action was taken pending inquiry after the issue spread widely on social media. This is a routine administrative step when allegations surface, and the doctor will be reinstated if the inquiry clears him, he added. Meanwhile, local residents Abdul Rashid and Mohammad Rafiq Sofi expressed strong anger over the incident. They said the CT scan machine at GMC Handwara frequently breaks down, despite catering to nearly 250 villages. The committees have been formed in the past over similar issues, but no visible action has followed, they said. "Suspending a doctor was unjust and misplaced. A doctor’s duty is to diagnose and prescribe, not to manage equipment or hospital logistics," Rashid and Sofi said. They alleged that senior doctors are rarely present, and most of the workload falls on junior doctors. The locals further alleged corruption and the existence of a nexus that benefits private clinics whenever hospital equipment fails. They questioned how a recently inaugurated CT machine could stop working so soon. They appealed to the district administration, higher authorities, and the LG government to intervene and order an impartial probe. They demanded that accountability be fixed on the hospital principal and administration instead of the doctors. They said the matter should not be closed with another committee and called for genuine human rights intervention to prevent such incidents in the future.