- I Paid A Bribe
- 12 years ago
- 1000 views
Special Rights Collect *******
- Health and Family Welfare
- Patient Care
- Paid INR 10
Bowring and Lady Curzon's Hospital, though a government hospital, is one of the best hospitals in Bangalore . It has all the high-tech facilities and the greatness of it is that it caters to even the poorest of poor man who cannot bear the high costs in private hospitals without insurance. Some facilities like x-**********, ECG, CT scanning, ultrasound are charged at highly subsidized rates and most of the services like consultations, giving injections, providing dressing to wounds/injuries are provided free of cost here. Though it is free of cost, some specially privileged nurses in white sarees seem to be empowered with the right to collect Rs. 10 from patients who go to take injection or every parent who takes her/his baby for injection or vaccination. The best place for the nurse to get daily earnings is Room # 29. The nurses themselves ask for Rs. 10 before giving the injection.
Though most of the times none of the nurses asked me for the bribe. On three occasions I was frustrated and was once mentally hurt when the nurse uttered a bad comment for not giving her Rs. 10 as bribe.
About 7 years ago, a nurse at the injection room gave me injection and after that brought a hundi towards me (money collection box) and asked me to put Rs. 10 for ********** Ayappa's **********.
Another time, I was the first person on that particular day and after me was a young beautiful woman with a baby. Before giving injection, the nurse asked Rs. 10. I tried to pull out a Rs. 10 note out of my tight jeans ********** pocket and did not get it out fast. So I made body movements making her understand I would pay after the injection is given. After taking the injection, I said her I did not have enough money for bus. On hearing this, the nurse became angry and commented "First boni, Daridra" ("boni" means first business of the day for the vendors and Daridra refers to low born or a low caste) on me. I gave a written complaint at the Medical Superintendent's office and brought a person who seemed to be a quite a higher officer who had a look at the culprit nurse. The moment the nurse came to know that she would be in danger, she said to the officer that she did not make those comments on me and started requesting the officer in a pitiful way to drop the complaint against her. I do not know what happened after that. Even the technician who takes x-********** (next to room where ultrasound is done) asks Rs. 10 from the patients for his service.
This way of demanding bribe puts the parent at a frustration because though it is free of cost, they cannot object to paying bribe. They cannot risk the injection being given in a wrong place or given painfully for the sake of Rs. 10. Moreover it is a small amount, so they pay it. The staff who does dressing to patients with injuries at Room #30 also goes home with a good daily collection. I saw my relative paying Rs. 50 to the staff who did dressing for him. This has been happening from many years irrespective of the room numbers.
These nurses are so highly experienced, aware of all the loopholes and speak so loudly and speak of all the worldly knowledge that it seems like nobody can shake them. On contrast, poor people who visit this hospital are so uneducated and so ignorant that they think the Bowring Hospital is a private hospital.
The Honorable Lokayuktha has been arresting some corrupt staffs in this hospital every now and then, but they are not aware of the corrupt practices at the room numbers that I have mentioned above. This has been happening from many years and it is not a new development because I have been using the hospital services since my childhood and whenever I visit this hospital I never fail to see men/woman with their babies paying bribes at the injection rooms.
The concerned authorities should open their eyes before these corrupt staffs do any great damage to the patient/babies for not getting bribes. They should make the hospital more user friendly.
The following steps should be taken to stop corruption in this hospital.
1. The hospital should have an official website with contact email addresses of the officers that the patient can approach in case of any problems.
2. The hospital should put up a permanent board, non-erasable and clearly visible board (not paper print out) in front of rooms where it is likely that bribes will be demanded by staffs, especially outside room numbers 29 and 30. Such boards should be written in Hindi, English, Kannada and Urdu stating the users not to pay bribes.
3. There should be an officer specifically appointed to deal with corrupt practices and this office should be easily accessible by the users.
My email ID: anand_muniyappa@yahoo.co.in