By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Two outsourcing employees at Gandhi Hospital were sacked after an inquiry report was filed against them. A patient S Raju and his wife S Santoshi alleged that the ward boys asked them for a bribe in return for a wheelchair.

On Friday, a video became viral where Raju, who needs surgery for burns injuries, was seen moving in Gandhi Hospital on a toy tricycle to reach burns ward located in fifth floor. Santoshi said she earlier paid `100 four-to-five times for a wheel chair.

The sacked employees are P Venkat Ratnam and S Mahendra Bai. The inquiry report was filed by Saturday afternoon. Superintendent of the Hospital Dr BSV Manjula submitted the report to Health minister C Laxma Reddy, special chief secretary Rajeshwar Tiwari, and other officials in the Health and Family Welfare department on Saturday evening. The superintendent also met the state governor ESL Narasimhan and explained the issue to him.

Outsourcing employees earn `10,000 salary per month. “We work for eight-hours a day and the work timings extend to 12-hours if it’s a night shift,” said a ward boy employed on an outsourcing basis.

After the video became viral, entire Health machinery swung into action for damage control from Friday evening. The issue gained significance as it was only five-days ago that ward boys at Government General and Chest Hospital, demanded money from a Tuberculosis patient V Krishna and his wife to be provided with Oxygen support. At Gandhi Hospital, doctors said that there are no shortcomings in treatment provided to Raju and he was saved when the patient got admitted at the hospital in October with severe burn injuries.

Class IV staff to be trained

On Monday afternoon, superintendents of all major government hospitals and medical colleges in the State would organise a session for ward boys and other Class IV Employees warning them of consequences of demanding bribes. “An emergency meeting was organised with six superintendents where message was conveyed that corruption cannot be taken lightly. Posters will be struck on walls of hospitals displaying phone numbers of superintendent, RMOs and other officials with whom complaints can be lodged,” Dr M Ramani, Telangana director of Medical Education said.

Wheelchair spots

Often, patients and their family struggle to find wheelchair at government hospitals. To solve this, a decision was taken to park wheelchairs at some designated points in hospitals so that people can find them easily.