Now, driver doubles up as doctor in UP

Caught on tape while putting patient on drip in government clinic

The trouble for the government is far from over as it turned out that drivers too doubled up as doctors at government hospitals in the state.

Though the state government ordered a high-level probe into the allegations of sweepers and ward boys treating patients at Bulandshahar district hospital, this new revelation is likely to cause more embarrassment.

A local news channel aired visuals showing a youth, who later turned out to be the driver of the chief medical officer (CMO), giving drips to a patient at a government hospital in Kushinagar, about 325 kilometres from here.

“As there were no doctors at the hospital then, the driver gave the drip,” said a patient’s  attendant.

Another video footage showed a sweeper giving injections to the patients at a government hospital in Ballia.

The sweeper, though refused to identify himself, admitted candidly that he doubled up as a doctor when the need arose.

Meanwhile, an embarrassed  government rushed director general of health services
Dr Chiranjeev Lal to Bulandshahar on Wednesday to look into the allegations.

“The DG will be submitting his report shortly after which action will be taken. No one has been given a clean chit,” said  health minister Ahmed Hasan.

Meanwhile, the Bulandshahar district hospital employees allegedly manhandled the media personnel on Wednesday when the they reached there to talk to the DG, health.

Some scribes were roughed by the hospital staff when they tried to get near Dr  Lal to speak to him, reports said.

Ward boys and sweepers were found to be giving stitches and injections to critically wounded people at the government hospital in Bulandshahar.

The hospital administration, quite brazenly, said the man shown in the visuals giving stitches was an employee of the hospital and but not a doctor.

Only a few months back, auxiliary nurse midwives were found to have helped in delivery of babies in candlelight as there was no power and the generator was out of order at a community health centre in Barabanki district.