Patna: The civil surgeon's office on Friday set up a four-member team to crack the whip on private hospitals in the state capital that are running without necessary facilities and playing with the lives of people.

The inspection team will start raids at private health-care facilities from this month, accompanied by video camera persons to shoot the raid so that the health department has enough proof to initiate action against hospitals that have not followed the norms.

Sources said state health minister Mangal Pandey had instructed the civil surgeon to set up the team for conducting raids at private hospitals, especially those located in the Bypass area.

"The health minister had categorically asked us to depute videographers so that we can get ample evidences on spot," said a source in the civil surgeon's office. "The videographers will be chosen soon and the team will start conducting inspection from February itself."

A good number of the over 100 hospitals running in the Bypass area don't have regular doctors or properly equipped intensive care unit (ICU) or diagnostic facilities such as x-ray but even though they are running as 24X7 trauma centres where accident victims are rushed to. The health department has received many complaints that many patients who were taken to such hospitals died.

Complaints have also been received earlier that many government and private ambulances were taking trauma and other critically ill patients to these ill-equipped hospitals because the drivers are in cahoots with the hospital authorities.

"Complaints had been received that many hospitals on Bypass area don't even have MBBS doctors and there are also hospitals which have hired MBBS doctors but they are not available in hospital for 24 hours and patients were at the mercy of para-medical staff," said the civil surgeon's office source.

A senior PMCH doctor said: "We have come to know about many such hospitals, specially in the Bypass area, which are very ill-equipped and charge exorbitant money from poor patients. The health department's move is welcome. It should have been taken long ago."