A person who cheated a man in distress by promising to get a bed for his COVID-19 positive mother at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, was booked by the Punjagutta police here on Friday. However, the incident came to light only on Saturday.
According to police, NIMS Superintendent Dr. N. Satyanarayana approached them stating that on May 18, one Krishna Reddy came to his office and lodged a written complaint stating that he brought his mother Sugunamma to the hospital for treatment, where he met one Prashanth who claimed that he will get his mother admitted and treated.
“Since his mother's health condition was critical, he believed him and paid ₹1 lakh through GPay and got his mother admitted,” Mr. Satyanarayana told the police.
Subsequently, Prashanth demanded another ₹1 lakh for continuing the treatment and further informed him that the normal treatment would cost up to ₹3 to 4 lakh with oxygen facility and ₹7 Lakhs for ventilator facility. “Soon Reddy got suspicious and verified the admission register, and found that only ₹1,000 was recorded to have been paid and no other receipts were available in the case sheet and he requested us for necessary action,” the Superintendent said.
Soon, a departmental inquiry was ordered, during which it was found that Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr. N. Lakshmi Bhaskar instructed Resident Medical Officer Dr. Mahender to admit Sugunamma and accordingly she was admitted in Room NPR D-Block.
Further inquiries revealed that the said Prashanth is not an employee or in any way connected to the administration of NIMS. “He is suspected to be having good contacts with some of the employees of the institute and cheating the gullible and innocent patients and their relatives by collecting huge amounts in the name of giving admission and treatment,” the top doctor told police and requested them to take action against Prashanth.
Based on his complaint, a case was registered and a probe is on.
