HYDERABAD: On a day of twists and turns, Dr Vasanth Kumar, a casualty medical officer of RMO rank at Gandhi Hospital, attempted to immolate himself on the hospital premises, alleging harassment by senior officials, including the superintendent of the Hospital.

Dr Vasanth, who strapped four bottles of petrol bottles under his shirt, taped a lighter onto his hand, threatening to set himself afire. Inspector AC Balagangi Reddy and his team, after chalking out an elaborate plan with the media personnel present at the spot, snatched the lighter from the doctor and prevented him from committing suicide.

Though the doctor was detained immediately, police officials refused to divulge any information as to where he was taken.

Speaking to Express, Inspector Reddy said, “He has been taken in for counselling. However, we cannot reveal where.” Dr Vasanth has alleged that Dr P Shravan Kumar, Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, and Dr K Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education (DME), have been targeting him for exposing administrative and treatment-related irregularities that had been taking place in the hospital.

Speaking to the media while threatening to immolate himself, Dr Vasanth Kumar said: “I have been raising issues of lack of sanitation practices, security guards, doctors not performing their duties and other administrative issues for a long time. This had made a section angry and they began targeting me.”

On Monday, Express had reported that Dr Vasanth was asked to surrender himself to the Directorate of Medical Education after he faced allegations of providing false information on the spread of Coronavirus tests to the media.  However, Dr G Srinivas Rao, Director of Public Health, had refuted the allegations saying, “This a tussle between two groups in Gandhi Hospital and it has nothing to do with Coronavirus.”

DME Dr Ramesh Reddy, speaking to the media on Tuesday, said, “Recently, during a high-level committee meeting, Dr Vasanth had barged into my room and abused one of the senior RMOs. We have a complaint with regard to this incident. If you have any grievances, you should give a written complaint. You cannot misbehave with your senior officers. Once a complaint of misbehaviour has been registered, we have to take disciplinary action against it. There are multiple complaints against Dr Vasanth. The Superintendent took action as per the CCA rules.”

He further added, “There are allegations of Dr Vasanth being involved in high-level corruption cases. It had come to our notice that he may be taking money from medical shops and establishments. We had asked him to mend his ways, but the allegations have resurfaced. Also, the allegations that have been levelled against Dr Vasanth claiming that there is a scam surrounding sanitation and security works will be investigated.”