Patna, April 19: Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), the premier health hub in the state, promises quality healthcare facilities to the poorest of the poor for free. A visit to the hospital, however, reveals a completely different tale. Right from trolley men to the ward attendants — no one offers any service to patients unless their palms are greased.
Be it a transfer to beds from emergency to other wards, inserting a catheter or tube or pulling a trolley — every service comes for a price. The practice continues despite several posters and wall graffiti asking patients not to bribe helpers.
The situation has reached such a stage that even people have stopped resisting.
Sources in the hospital said there about 500 trolley men working on a contractual basis through a private agency and as many ward attendants who are on the state government rolls. However, all of them are reluctant to work if they are not paid the extra amount.
“The drama begins at the reception counter when the patient has to be admitted to a ward or in the emergency. The trolley men start asking for money from there itself. The bribe amount ranges from Rs 20 to Rs 100 and they settle at an amount after bargaining. Poor patients and their relatives, who are already suffering, have no other option other than paying these people,” said Ramswarath Kumar, whose son is admitted in the paediatrics ward.
Birju Kumar from Purnea is another victim of such exploitation. His younger brother had been admitted to the hospital two days ago with high fever, diarrhoea and has subsequently developed fits.
“We have already spent Rs 2,000 on medicines and Rs 300 on travel. So it is difficult to satisfy all the Grade IV employees three to four times a day. But I do not have an option. I want to see my brother alive,” Birju said.
Families of other patients too were lodged similar complaints. “The doctors said that my wife could not urinate on her own and needed a catheter all the time. I paid Rs 50 to a lady ward attendant to make her do the needful. Even I complained about this to a senior nurse but in futile. It seems that bribing these employees is a culture here,” said Rajesh Trivedi.
The hospital administration turns a blind eye on the issue.
“It cannot be that the hospital authorities are unaware about the matter. But they are patronising the wrong-doers,” Trivedi alleged.
Pramila Kumari, the general secretary of Grade-A nurses (on contract) association, said she had tried to highlight the issue on a number of occasions but without success.
“Even security guards let four-five attendants enter the wards after taking money from them, which creates a lot of problem. These are however, ignored by the hospital administration. We are distressed ourselves because of such a practice,” she said.
Senior officials at PMCH told The Telegraph action would be taken if a patient submitted a written complaint. The authorities, however, dismissed saying it was not a common practice.
“Such a thing could have happened a couple of times, but is certainly not a regular thing. If somebody asks bribe from patients or their relatives, why do not they approach us with a written complaint? Only then can we take action,” a senior hospital official said.
