Toy for wheelchair case: 2 Gandhi Hospital employees suspended

​Hyderabad: Two personnel of the state-run Gandhi Hospital here were suspended on Saturday on a charge of demanding money for providing a wheelchair to a patient having severe mobility problem.

The matter hogged limelight after the patient S Raju (in his 40s) had to move around in the hospital using a children's tricycle because he was unable to shell out "tips" of Rs 100 to Rs 200 for getting a wheelchair.

"The two personnel (class IV employees), a male and a female, were suspended based on the report of an inquiry committee constituted on Friday," hospital Superintendent Manjula said. The administration would look into steps that need to be taken to avoid recurrence of such incidents, she said.

Meanwhile, the Gandhi hospital officials briefed Governor E S L Narasimhan on the incident. The officials met him in the Raj Bhavan. Raju had been visiting the Gandhi hospital for a follow-up treatment for the burn injuries that he had suffered due to electrical shock last August.

His wife Santoshi alleged as they did not have money to pay "tips" to the ward boys, he was not being given wheel-chair and had to use a children's tricycle to move around in the hospital. She further claimed the ward boys had been demanding Rs 100 to Rs 200 for providing wheelchair, and had been bringing her son's tricycle to the hospital during visits.

The hospital superintendent had yesterday said that the patient, who had suffered electric burns, had undergone treatment at the hospital for over three months and he himself got discharged against medical advice, though he had been visiting the hospital as outpatient.