CUTTACK: A Broker was arrested by Mangalabag police on Thursday for allegedly diverting patients from SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) to a private hospital. Although, his accomplice managed to escape. The accused Debendra Rout belongs to Sunapala village under Jagatpur police limits. The duo was shifting a patient from the SCBMCH’s Casualty Ward to a private hospital in the city when police in plain clothes nabbed one of them.
During interrogation, Rout confessed that he has been into this illegal activity with the help of some staff and ambulance drivers of SCBMCH since long. Push cards of different private hospitals and diagnostic centres were recovered from him, said IIC, Mangalabag police station, Amitav Mohapatra.
In the last 10 months, Mangalabag police have arrested 14 brokers but the menace continues in the premier healthcare institution of the State. Highest six brokers were arrested on April 1. While three of them were working as contractual attendants in SCBMCH, the other three were drivers of private ambulances engaged in patients’ service.
The brokers and middlemen lure innocent patients by telling them that they can avail treatment at a cheaper price at private hospitals in comparison with SCBMCH. After admission, the brokers get commission from the private hospitals which ultimately cheat patients by charging heavy prices.
Stating that it is difficult on the part of the police administration to go to the root of the problem, a senior police officer said that even some doctors are involved in this. “However, a close surveillance will be kept on the brokers”, he added.