Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 28: Brokers are ruling the roost at Capital Hospital.
Several brokers can be seen in the hospital during the outpatient department’s working hours of 8 am to noon and 3 pm to 5 pm. These people would pose as if they are attendants of patients but would in reality keep a watch on the patients. They would reveal themselves when doctors prescribe tests and guide the patents to private diagnostic centres.
“I came to Capital Hospital all the way from Berhampur in search for A-negative blood for my child who is afflicted by thalassemia. The pediatrician here has asked me to do blood grouping. A person then took me outside the hospital, got the blood testing done and charged `80 from me. He has also asked me to do some other tests and took a total of `500. Later I learnt that the person was a broker and this is what happens in this hospital,” said Paramananda Majhi.
The fee for blood grouping is `20 at the diagnostic centre of the hospital that has the facility to undertake various tests, including that of blood and urine. However, most patients have no idea where to go and whom to approach.
“The large number of patients who visit the hospital are fodder for the many brokers who target patients from outside the city as they cannot manipulate the locals. It is difficult to identify the brokers and take action against them,” said a senior hospital official here on the request of anonymity. It has also been alleged that doctors here favour the brokers and themselves sometimes suggest that the tests be done outside the hospital. “As the doctor himself has asked me to go with that person, I thought that he might be a hospital employee,” said Majhi.
