A British hospital found itself in hot water after a sign was spotted in its library stating that food, especially samosas, pakora or stuffed chapatis, should not be brought into the library as they are "very smelly".
The sign was put up in the York Hospital Library, which a user shared on X. "Food and Drink Policy: Hot and cold drinks are permitted in the library. Please do not bring food into the library. Especially no samosas, pakoras or stuffed chapatis as they are very smelly," it reads.
Sign Displaying South Asian Food Very Smelly Displayed In Britain Hospital
© Photo : Twitter
So far, the tweet has received 4.5 million retweets and thousands of criticisms.
"A strong French cheese is OK, I suppose?" wrote Naseer Ahmed, a surgeon based in England. "This is microaggression racism," wrote another user.
“If this is real, it is very likely to be discriminatory & unacceptable for an emanation of the State. @NHSEngland continues to fail in addressing the #toxic culture in the #NHS that enables this type of #racism,” read another comment.
Later, when the tweet went viral, the directors of York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust took action and issued an apology.
“We are truly sorry for any distress or upset that has been caused by the sign that was put up in our library at York Hospital…We continue to educate our staff to support them in understanding the implications of actions they may take both positively and negatively,” read the statement.
Meanwhile, such signs or incidents also shed light on British attitudes. In the UK, almost 16 per cent of professionally qualified clinical staff are Asian (according to NHS data). However, there seems to be a lack of respect for ethnicity among whites.