Brokers on prowl: 4 arrested from Capital Hospital in Odisha capital

Bhubaneswar: As many as four brokers including a pathology centre owner and medicine representative were arrested from the Capital Hospital yesterday ahead of launching of much-awaited ‘Mo Sarkar’ programme by Odisha government on Oct 2.

The accused were identified as Srikant Prusty (36), an owner of a pathology unit; Laxmikant Mallick (35), medicine representative; Prashant Behera (35) and Bibhuti Bhushan Binod (29). All of them are from Bhubaneswar.

According to reports, the four had been working as middlemen targeting the poor ignorant patients visiting the state-run hospital. They were noticing the patients right from meeting to doctors till their return from the hospital. They were putting the patients into their trap by collecting their prescriptions and motivating them to undergo all the medical tests at a particular pathology centre.

A complaint had been filed at the Capital Police Station after several such incidents came to fore at the hospital.

The Commissionerate police had kept vigil on the activities of these brokers in the past few days. The Capital police managed to nab these four accused persons while they were sending some patients for medical tests at a private pathology centre.

The arrest of four came few hours after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a preview meeting at Lok Seva Bhawan on implementation of ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative directing the authorities to make all the state-run hospitals broker-free.

Less than 24 hours of the directive, the process has begun from the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar to free it from brokers to maintain transparency in providing healthcare services to patients.

The process to take action against the brokers will continue in the city, the Capital police informed.