Gaya, May 15: Magadh division commissioner (DC) K.P. Rammaiah during an inspection of Gaya Pilgrim Hospital was taken aback to find only four indoor patients in the oldest district hospital with 150 beds.

When the commissioner visited the hospital during the OPD hours, he was greeted by an empty ward. His curiosity heightened, Rammaiah inspected OPD registers and found blank spaces in between entries. That led the district officer to suspect that the blank spaces were put in deliberately to cover up for fake medical certificates issued as and when demanded for “fake” patients.

The divisional commissioner also allegedly came to know of a particular eye surgeon, who has been working in the Gaya Pilgrim Hospital for the past six years, who had not performed a single surgery during this period.

However, the eye surgeon wasn’t the only one. There are allegedly 13 other doctors in the hospital, who have been in the service for the past six years and more and have an equally poor record.

“The hospital is offering elusive service to non-existent patients and is soaking up a lot of government funds that the state could have saved even if it reimbursed patients’ medical bill after getting them admitted to the most expensive private hospitals,” said an official at the DC office. K.P. Rammaiah is now conducting a probe into the matter. The situation is worse in the other government hospitals.

What the DC office suspects is that many doctors who work in the government hospital and have their private practice have been discouraging patients from getting themselves admitted to the government hospitals. However, our office is yet to make a final assessment, said the commissioner.

Rammaiah also said that he would not allow government hospitals be converted into catch-ment areas for private practitioners and would be submitting a detailed report to the government in the matter.

When quizzed about the state of affairs in Pilgrim Hospital, civil surgeon P. Gupta said lack of transport facilities led to rural patients not being able to avail district hospitals. Gupta, who has her office on hospital premises, said on normal days there are 10-12 patients occupying the general beds.

However, municial corporator Lalji Prasad, rubbished her claims and said that it was time that “sushasan” (good governance) protagonists did a reality check in government hospitals in Magadh division.