President Patil's cook demands VIP treatment

Kitchen cabinet

Is the cook of a VVIP a VIP?  Yes, says Dhanraj Mani, the chief cook of the President of India Pratibha Devi Singh Patil who was admitted to a corporate five star hospital, after complaining against the bad condition and treatment at the Gandhi Government Hospital situated on Musheerabad Road.

The 55-year-old cook’s ire was after he was diagnosed for bilateral pneumonia. Dhanraj was kept in the AMC (acute medical care) wing of the government hospital till evening, but was later shifted to the general ward where he complained of not getting proper attention.

“There is only one nurse for six wards, and the beds and wards are not clean,” said the cook claiming that he was not used to such environment and, demanded to be shifted to a corporate hospital at the State government’s expense.

After listening to the woes of her cook, President Patil called up Governor E S L Narasimhan and complained, who turned the fire on the Health ministry. The command chain from the Health minister to Health Secretary, Director, Medical Education and then to the hospital superintendent finally led to his admission in a super speciality care hospital in the city.

Doctors at the Gandhi Hospital said there were no instructions that Dhanraj should be given any VIP treatment. “Even then, when he complained of breathlessness, he was shifted to a special room, but still, he wasn’t happy, and was fussy about everything”, said a senior doctor on condition of anonymity. The other two house surgeons who were on night shift on that day said Dhanraj was very impatient, and also irritated that he was being treated as a “normal patient.”

“Apparently, he had caught pneumonia infection after staying in the Rashtrapathi Nilayam in Bolarum, which was recently white washed,” said an official of the Rashtrapathi Nilayam.

The President’s complaint to Governor had woken up the entire state administration, from Governor’s office to the Director of Medical Education who are confused over the issue involving Dhanraj and his pneumonia.

However, nobody knows why the VIP cook was sent to the Gandhi Hospital on that night as it was already choked with casualties of New Year revelry, and had little scope for VIP treatment. Meanwhile, some medical professionals complained that the ICU of general medicine department of the hospital is probably the worst in the state.