The patient concerned, Raju, who is an electrician by profession, asked for the wheel-chair from the ward boy as he was incapable of walking. (ANI)

In a shocking and bizarre incident at a Telangana government hospital, a 40-year-old patient was forced to use his child’s tri-cycle to reach the concerned ward to consult the doctor after he was denied the use of a wheel-chair by a ward boy unless he paid a bribe of Rs 150. The patient concerned, Raju, who is an electrician by profession, asked for the wheel-chair from the ward boy as he was incapable of walking. But instead of helping him instantly, the ward boy asked for money. Unable to pay the amount, Raju chose to use his child’s toy tri-cycle to meet the doctor. The whole incident was recorded on camera by someone in the hospital and he posted it online – the clip went viral virtually instantly.

Pretty soon the outrage forced chief minister of state K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) to step in. He not only called the kin of the patient and assured all possible help in his treatment, but also ordered a probe into the matter.

#WATCH Patient forced to use child’s tricycle to reach doctor’s ward at Govt Hospital in Hyderabad as he couldn’t pay alleged bribe of Rs150 pic.twitter.com/6P0v3KnG1v — ANI (@ANI_news) March 17, 2017

Meanwhile, the whole incident gave an opportunity to Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to target the state government for its policies. Congress senior leader Digvijaya Singh, called the incident “shameful”. Talking to news agency ANI, Singh said, “Telangana CM spent crores on his house, with bullet proof bathroom. But they don’t have money for a wheel-chair, shameful.” Another Congress leader Madhu Goud Yakshi also expressed distress over the incident, reported Times Now. Asked about it, Yakshi said that there were several reports of people dying in government hospitals of the state but the CM is “shamelessly” spending hundreds of crores of rupees on his bullet proof bathrooms and cars.

BJP also targetted KCR. Asked about the incident, K Krishna Sagar Rao said Telangana CM KCR has taken corruption to a very high level in the state, reported TimesNow. He said the bizarre incident shows his governance is not up to the mark. He further said that the CM is No 1 in wasting public money and not in governing the state.

Meanwhile, Raju and his wife shared their woes. “We can’t do anything if even the government hospitals don’t give us proper treatment,” said Raju’s wife. However, she is happy that the CM has assured all possible help for the treatment of her husband.