Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau (ACB) caught a male nurse of a private hospital red handed while receiving part payment of the ₹1.30 lakh he had sold an ICU bed for to a Covid-patient in a government hospital in Jaipur.
The police suspect that a doctor and a male nurse at the government hospital could also be involved in selling hospital beds to kin of Covid patients needing emergency care. The arrest has underlined the sad reality of black marketing of hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and life saving medicines at a time when an unprecedented rise in Covid infections has created a shortage of these essential medical supplies causing several deaths across the country.
The case in Jaipur came to light after a man lodged a complaint with the ACB naming Ashok Gurjar, a nurse at a private hospital, as the man who sold him an ICU bed at the government-operated Rajasthan University of Health Sciences hospital for ₹1.30 Lakh. He said he was made to pay the first instalment amounting to ₹95,000 before his Covid infected wife was admitted to the ICU on Wednesday. She died within 48 hours of her admission on Friday; however, Gurjar kept calling him through the day demanding payment of the remaining ₹35,000 as part of the deal, said an ACB officer.
The ACB set up a trap on Sunday evening and Gurjar was caught red-handed while accepting ₹23,000 from the complainant. The bureau said it was investigating the nature of his links with another male nursing staff at the RUHS, who introduced the complainant to Gurjar in the first place. It was also probing the role of a doctor posted in the ICU of the government hospital, who too has been accused of taking his cut of ₹50,000 from the total bribe amount, said the ACB officer.
{{/usCountry}}The ACB set up a trap on Sunday evening and Gurjar was caught red-handed while accepting ₹23,000 from the complainant. The bureau said it was investigating the nature of his links with another male nursing staff at the RUHS, who introduced the complainant to Gurjar in the first place. It was also probing the role of a doctor posted in the ICU of the government hospital, who too has been accused of taking his cut of ₹50,000 from the total bribe amount, said the ACB officer.
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