Toy for wheelchair at Gandhi Hospital
Family asked to pay `100 bribe for assitance
In a shocking example of abject corruption at the city’s Gandhi Hospital, a patient was forced to use a toy car as a wheelchair after he was denied one by staff who were asking for `100 in bribe for providing assistance.
A video showing the man’s suffering was being widely circulated on social media on Friday. The incident is believed to have occurred on Thursday.
Sarikonda Raju, a resident of Begumpet, has been receiving treatment at Gandhi Hospital after he suffered an electric shock in August last year. On Thursday, when he arrived at the hospital, accompanied by his wife, attenders demanded `100 when they were asked to provide a wheelchair. Raju’s wife, infuriated by the demand, rushed home to pick up a toy car and used it to take her husband to the doctor. Sources told the Deccan
Chronicle that the family was worried with the lack of improvement in Raju’s condition despite spending over `45,000 on his treatment. It’s also claimed that this was not the first time attenders at the hospital had demanded bribes from the family. It’s alleged that they would ask for money during every single visit.
Mr Raju, who used to work as a painter, was advised total bed rest and was asked to come for weekly check-ups. “Every time, the attenders would ask for money,” Raju’s wife, Santoshi, said.
“I used to pay them but this time, I didn’t have a single penny on me. So I decided to leave my ailing husband at the hospital and went home to get the toy car,” she added.
The video and images also reached Telangana state IT minister K.T. Rama Rao, who on Friday tweeted that he had had a word with hospital officials
Gandhi authorities took a note of the incident. “We have ordered an inquiry and action will be taken against the concerned,” said the hospital resident medical officer R. Seshadri.
Meanwhile, hospital Superintendent B.S.V. Manjula said they had never received a complaint from the family. "We haven’t received any complaint from the victim - before or after the incident."