MS of Govt eye hospital admits to taking bribes from patients, booked

While speaking with the TOI, a source from Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC)  said, during the inquiry, Sridhar admitted to receiving the bribe of Rs 100 or Rs 200 from beneficiaries while issuing certificates and said he did not maintain any record in this regard.

Being an employee of a government hospital Dr Sridhar was not supposed to collect money from beneficiaries and any amount to be collected had to be collected by Jothi Ramalingam, an assistant in his office.

The DAVC further inquired the case and came to know about the whole bribery process prevailing in the medical departments. The DVAC officials further informed there was indeed a nexus of doctors and officials at the hospital for issuing medical certificates only on bribes. TOI reports that allegedly there are two medical boards at the hospital. At the first regional medical board level, persons referred from other office are tested by a single medical officer and a fee of Rs 60 is collected. Half of this is paid to the officer. The special medical board is constituted for persons referred by other offices wherein three medical officers verify the patients. Of the Rs 200 collected from the patients, Rs 50 each is paid to the medical officers.