RAICHUR: Poor patients at the Raichur Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) are facing hardship due to alleged rampant corruption. In the labour section of the hospital, nurses allegedly demand `400-600 for each delivery while ward boys demand `100- 200 to shift new mothers to post-delivery wards, relatives allege.
Since it is a government institute, medical facility and deliveries should be done free of cost. According to a RIMS official, in a day, the hospital attends to 15-20 deliveries on an average. Venkatesh, who was forced to fork out bribes, said that he was asked to pay `400 at 3:30 am after his sister-in-law gave birth to a baby. “I had no cash to pay as it was a late hour. The nurses said the mother and the baby won’t be shifted until I pay the amount.”
Venkatesh scouted for ATMs in the city and finally made a payment of `300. After this, the ward boy who took the mother in a wheelchair to post-delivery ward demanded `200, he said. In a ward, there are 25 beds and post-delivery wards are most crowded. There are a total of 90 beds in this hospital to accommodate new mothers, according to RIMS. When asked, patients occupying all 25 beds confirmed to paying bribes. Ambaramma, a patient’s relative said, “We paid a total of `600. If we don’t pay, sisters and doctors won’t pay proper attention to the patients.” Kamalamma and Banu too rued that they went there to get free treatment but ended up paying bribes.However, Kavita Patil, dean of RIMS, said no complaints have been filed in in this regard “Unless we receive complaints, we cannot investigate and take action,” she said.