Ex-top cop’s FB post on medical seat blocking raises eyebrows

Former DG and IGP M Shankar Bidari’s Facebook post about medical seat blocking scam has given a new twist to the cases.

In a series of posts from Thursday, Bidari mentioned 2014 postgraduate medical courses and also a 2019 letter from the university to the government.

Bidari had posted: “Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has written a letter to the government about the Rs 1,100 crore scam and what are the state government and Income Tax department doing?”

When contacted, RGUHS authorities said, “They have not made any communication to the government during September 2019. The only recent communication about seat blocking was during 2018-19 admissions, which was even before August 2018.”

However, Minister for Medical Education Dr K Sudhakar promised to conduct an inquiry over Bidari’s allegation. “If Shankar Bidari provides documents relating to his posts, we will initiate an inquiry. Anyhow Bidari is my friend, and I will discuss the same with him,” he said.

Even after repeated calls, Bidari was not available for comments.

Poor facilities at hospital

Minister for Medical Education Dr K Sudhakar was in shock to see several mothers sitting on the floor with their newborns at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital.

During his visit to the hospital on Friday, he saw many mothers sitting on the floor with their newborns as there was a shortage of seating arrangements at the OPD waiting/consultation area.

When the doctors tried to explain, the minister said, “I don’t want any explanation. Take the necessary measures to improve facilities.”

Speaking to reporters after the visit, the minister said, “The number of children/patients coming to the hospital seeking admission is increasing day by day. Even patients from Bangladesh are coming here. This has led to shortage of beds.”