Rourkela: From fake nurse to doctor, from mortuary freezer theft to inflated billing, Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) has been in the news for all the wrong reasons that are being unearthed by the incumbent director of the governmentrun hospital, according to reports. Following allegations of irregularities in cleaning contract, a probe team is scheduled to visit this premier healthcare facility Wednesday to look into the complaints after 18 months. Mediaid Medical Ancillary (MMA), a Bhubaneswar-based agency, was given the cleaning contract of RGH. It got the tender on L1 basis and was allowed to operate for five years by then director in 2020.
The agency claimed to have provided ‘excellent service’. As per Clause 5 of the agreement, the agency would get an annual enhancement of 10 per cent for providing ‘excellent service’. Based on that, MMA raised a bill of Rs 20, 39, 789. The hospital manager, Mohit Kumar, prepared a note sheet and got it approved by the then director of RGH. The agency got the money in its account after other signatories approved this.
However, the then director himself had written an official letter (No- 2844) November 14, 2022 to MMA asking the agency to return the amount it had claimed for providing ‘excellent service’. This letter certainly raised a few eyebrows. This raised several questions like who actually had certified that the company had provided the so-called ‘excellent service’ and on what parameters it was decided. Meanwhile, the then incumbent director was transferred and the new director Ganesh Das took charge started an internal investigation. He also brought this to the notice of the Health department of Odisha in January 2023.
Following his intimation to the department, Health secretary Bijay Mohapatra wrote a letter to the National Health Mission (NHM) to investigate the case. It is learnt that NHM has formed a three-member team in this regard and the team will be visiting the RGH Wednesday to investigate the case. The team will stay here for two days –Wednesday and Thursday, as per the letter of joint director of NHM Elora Bharati Jena. Last month, the director had found that four freezers meant for preserving bodies were missing. An FIR was also lodged at Raghunathpalli police station. The role of the hospital manager Mohit Kumar in this case is under suspicion.
Speaking about the issue, the director had said, “When I enquired about the case he tried to give me confusing answers and later he accepted in front of me that he had given those four freezers to one agency of Mumbai. And in fact, Ram Dev Enterprises, which supplied the new freezers, had taken away the old ones.” Meanwhile, it is learnt the manager has got an anticipatory bail from High Court in this regard.
RAJESH MOHANTY, OP