Cuttack: The sordid state of healthcare in the government facilities in the state have come to light once again, as it has been alleged that employees at Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) here are forcing attendants to deposit money or their mobile phones to avail stretchers for critically-ill patients.
Sources said the hospital staffers are seeking a deposit of at least `1,000 each from people who want stretchers to carry patients. In case people do not have enough money, they are asked to mortgage their mobile phones for stretchers.
It is learnt that people having no money or mobile phones are denied stretcher at the premier state-run healthcare institute.
According to sources, Bikram Kishore Behura, a resident of Kalianti village under Mahanaga Assembly segment, had admitted his mother Shailabhama, a paralysis patient, to SCBMCH December 17. The hospital authorities had allocated a bed to Shailabhama at the fourth floor of the medicine ward building. She was released from the hospital December 22.
The hospital employees had sought `1,000 from Behura when he urged them to provide a stretcher for his mother. Behura was forced to mortgage his mobile phone for the stretcher after he expressed his inability to deposit the amount, sources said.
A relative of Behura subsequently raised the issue with Mahanga MLA and state Health Minister Pratap Jena. Eventually, the hospital authorities returned Behura’s phone.
Responding to the controversy, SCBMCH manager Soumya Mohanty said they used to return the money or mobiles to attendants after they deposit the stretchers. “Some people do not return the stretcher. That is why we seek money or phones from people to provide them stretchers,” she added.
PNN