Underprivileged patients entitled to Rs 2.25 lakh for treatment under the Mukhyamantri Gambhir Bimari Upchar Yojana are facing difficulty in availing the sop in Hazaribagh, where officials given the responsibility to issue the requisite approval letter are allegedly demanding bribe.

The sanction letters are issued by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) office located on the premises of Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital.

According to rules, only people with an annual income of less then Rs 72,000 can apply for treatment of critical diseases under the Mukhyamantri Gambhir Bimari Upchar Yojana. Such a patient first needs to get an estimate of the total cost of treatment from the hospital he or she has approached and furnish the same to NRHM office. The NRHM, after verifying the details, gives its approval and sends the draft directly to the hospital. Simultaneously, it issues a letter to the patient, asking the hospital to start treatment.

But relatives of two patients seeking treatment under this health scheme claimed that they faced harassment at the NRHM office.

Family members of one Kishori Ram (65), who underwent an open heart surgery in Vellore recently, said they had to pay NRHM accounts manager Rakesh Pandey Rs 10,000 to get the sanction letter. "We submitted an estimate of the treatment cost in September. It is a serious matter, as bribes are being sought from very poor people grappling with critical illness," said Prakash Ram, a relative of Kishori.

On Wednesday, relatives of another patient from Alpito village in Vishnugarh raised similar allegations against Pandey. Rupesh Sinha, son-in-law of patient Basant Prasad, said that they had documents to show that on October 17, the civil surgeon's office had given the go-ahead to grant Rs 2.25 lakh to Prasad, who is battling stomach cancer.

"I met Pandey at the NRHM office a number of times, but he is not taking interest in our case. He dropped enough hints that we need to grease his palms," Sinha told The Telegraph.

Pandey, when contacted, denied that he had demanded bribe from any patient party. Prodded more, he clammed up.

Deputy commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla promised to look into the complaints and take action against Pandey. "If the need be, we will remove him from the NRHM office and deploy someone else in another 24 hours," Shukla promised.

At present, 82 incurable or rare diseases right from renal failure to plastic surgery in burns cases are listed under the Mukhyamantri Gambhir Bimari Upchar Yojana.