Lokayukta raps hospital staff for demanding bribe

Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao, along with officials, made a surprise visit to the KC General Hospital in Malleswaram on Tuesday afternoon, following complaints of rampant corruption.

Justice Rao visited various wards and interacted with the hospital staff as well as patients.

In an interaction with nurses and hospital authorities, Justice Rao said: “About 80 per cent of nurses from the hospital are accepting bribes from patients which is unfortunate. This is the complaint we have received from people. Now on, we will keep a strict vigil over the hospital staff. If found guilty, he/she will be jailed for seven years.”

He expressed unhappiness over facilities stating that though the condition of the hospital was good, facilities like benches and chairs for patients were inadequate.

During the inspection, Anil Kumar, brother of patient Balayya, admitted for appendectomy, said he was told to pay Rs 5,000 by a team of assistants, who in turn, were working for Dr Ravi Kumar, specialist surgeon, to get his brother operated.

The Lokayukta immediately interrogated Dr Kumar and ordered him to return the amount to the patient.

Dr R L Chandraprabha, Medical Superintendent, KC General Hospital, promised that she will take action against nurses or any hospital staff if found guilty of taking bribe. The Lokayukta also made the nurses take an oath to serve efficiently.

‘Govt shielding corrupt officials’

Justice Y Bhaskar Rao said that the State government was shielding corrupt officials.
“We are waiting for the order of sanction from the government for prosecution of 130 corrupt officials. I have discussed the matter with the Chief Secretary and sought for issuance of order as we cannot prosecute them without an approval from the government,” Justice Rao told reporters.

“When I took over as Lokayukta, there were 4,558 complaints waiting to be disposed of. About 1,100 complaints received from 1993 till 2004 have been disposed of. The remaining complaints will be cleared within a month. I have directed my subordinates on this,” he added.

The Lokayukta also said steps have been initiated to set up an internal vigilance cell to keep tabs on the movement of the Lokayukta officials and a proposal has been sent to the State government. “Once they approve it, it will be set up immediately,” he added.