The Health Colossus | Editorial Perspective
A video showing a motorcycle being driven through the corridors of Fortis Hospital, Mohali, during the hospital’s Silver Jubilee celebrations has sparked a debate on social media, with questions being raised over safety, professional conduct and the appropriateness of bringing a celebratory spectacle into a healthcare environment.
The video, which was posted on June 30, features Dr Swapna Misra, identified in media reports as a robotic gynaecological surgeon based in Chandigarh, posing alongside a motorcycle while wearing sunglasses. She is subsequently seen seated on the pillion as a man rides the motorcycle through the hospital corridor. As they move through the premises, Dr Misra waves to people gathered around, while the Bollywood song Dhoom Machale plays in the background.
While celebrating a hospital’s 25-year journey is undoubtedly an important milestone, the question being asked by many observers is simple: Was a motorcycle ride through a hospital corridor an appropriate way to celebrate it?
From The Health Colossus’ perspective, the issue is not about denying healthcare professionals the opportunity to celebrate. Hospitals are workplaces, and their teams deserve moments of recognition and camaraderie. However, a hospital is fundamentally a patient-care environment. Its corridors are designed for the movement of patients, doctors, nurses, emergency teams, wheelchairs, stretchers and medical equipment—not for theatrical motorcycle entries.
This distinction becomes even more important when the institution in question holds itself out as a centre committed to internationally benchmarked standards.
Fortis Hospital, Mohali, is officially described by Fortis Healthcare as JCI and NABH accredited. Fortis has also highlighted its history of JCI accreditation and its commitment to clinical excellence and patient safety. JCI accreditation is widely associated with rigorous standards around patient safety, quality improvement and healthcare processes.
That raises a legitimate question for hospital leadership: How does a motorcycle being driven through an internal hospital corridor align with the culture of safety and risk management expected from a JCI-accredited institution?
The concern is not necessarily that an incident occurred or that a patient was harmed. Rather, it is about the precedent and the message such imagery can send. A hospital’s safety culture is built not only through policies and accreditation certificates but also through everyday behaviour and visible leadership standards.
Fortis Hospital Mohali’s publicly listed leadership includes senior clinicians serving as directors across specialties, including Dr A.S. Bawa, Dr Anupam Jindal, Dr Arun Kumar, Dr Arvind Sahni and Dr Ashis Pathak, among others. The hospital’s public professional presence can be accessed through its official LinkedIn page.
The Health Colossus believes that healthcare leadership carries a responsibility beyond clinical excellence. It also includes setting an example for safety, discipline and professionalism.
The viral video has therefore raised an important question that deserves an institutional response: Were appropriate safety and risk assessments undertaken before the motorcycle was permitted to enter and travel through the hospital’s corridors? And, if the area was temporarily secured for the event, what safeguards were put in place to ensure that patients and clinical operations were not affected?
Celebrations can—and should—be creative. But in healthcare, creativity must never come at the expense of patient safety or the professional image of the institution.
A hospital is not merely a corporate workplace or an event venue. For patients and their families, it is often a place of anxiety, vulnerability and hope. The environment must therefore reflect the highest standards of care and responsibility, even during celebrations.
The Fortis Mohali video may have been intended as a moment of fun and celebration. Yet, when such content goes viral, it inevitably invites scrutiny. For a hospital that promotes JCI and NABH accreditation and positions patient safety as a core value, the incident presents an opportunity for leadership to reflect on whether the pursuit of an engaging celebration can sometimes cross the line into conduct that may appear inconsistent with the standards expected of a healthcare institution.
At The Health Colossus, our criticism is not directed at celebration itself. It is directed at the judgment involved in bringing a motorcycle into a hospital corridor—and at the broader question of whether such actions are consistent with the safety culture and professionalism that patients have the right to expect from an internationally accredited healthcare institution.
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