Punjab: Guru Nanak Dev hospital bars entry of touts of private labs, chemists on campus

Amritsar: Taking action against agents and touts from private diagnostic labs and chemists who fraudulently sell medicines and lure patients to private hospitals, the authorities of Guru Nanak Dev (GND) Hospital have issued a notice banning their entry into the premises of the hospital.  

The notice, issued by the hospital, was put up at various premises of the hospital with the warning that the agents would be taken to the police if they were found within the hospital premises. 

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A number of agents and touts of private labs, chemists and hospitals have been arrested earlier for cheating patients into receiving services from them. Various private agents could be seen roaming inside the wards as well. 

Stating that the hospital would not tolerate any private agents within its premises, GNDH Medical Superintendent Dr Karamjit Singh said, "Notices have been put up following several such incidents that came to life." Further, the doctor added that the hospital has better infrastructure and better-qualified doctors as compared to other private hospitals, and hence provides better services. 

Speaking to the Tribune India, a hospital employee said, "These touts not only sell medicines but also try to persuade attendants to shift patients to a private hospital claiming that they will get better services there. They do such things for commission and patients end up spending more money at private hospitals." 

Meanwhile, a social activist from the region had recently accused the hospital of operating a doctor-chemist mafia while bringing out this issue of private agents inside the hospital exhorting patients to go to specific chemist shops. 

In the latest such incident of fraud reported from the hospital, a person posing as a hospital employee cheated a number of patients by promising to sell medicines at a lesser price but the person did not return later. The patients and their attendants later began accusing the hospital employees of cheating them. 

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