Andhra Pradesh: Private diagnostic lab agents creep into Kurnool Govt Hospital, fleece patients up to Rs 2 lakh per day; Lokayukta orders probe

HYDERABAD: Taking a serious view of the exploitative ways of the private diagnostic labs that have gone to the extent of planting moles within the Kurnool government general hospital, the biggest public sector health facility that caters to the people of the entire Rayalaseema region, to rob thousands of poor patients in the name of lab tests to an alleged tune of Rs 2 lakh per day, AP Lokayukta Justice P Lakshmana Reddy ordered twin probes to be done by the director of medical education and district superintendent of police separately.
Both of them were asked to furnish their reports to Lokayukta by June 26. The judge passed separate directions to the district collector, who was asked, in addition to examining the issue in detail, to take all required steps forthwith to ensure that the objective of the state government to provide all lab tests to the people free of cost, is achieved effectively.
The judge took into consideration the reports in vernacular media that spoke about the clandestine operators of private labs camping within the government hospital and decided to go to the rescue of the nearly 3,000 poor people who visit the hospital's outpatient wing daily.
The agents of private labs metamorphose into well-wishers for patients and drive them towards their private labs in Kurnool city. The patients who are in a hurry to get some treatment for their loved ones are getting exploited by these middlemen camping within the government hospital.
According to an estimate, these private labs are making anywhere up to Rs 2 lakh per day from the gullible public. Lack of knowledge about lab tests and lack of awareness about their existence within the government hospital itself is making the poor fall prey to the machinations of the private lab mafia. They mislead the people that lab tests are not available in the government hospital. Even if they are available the results won't be accurate and will take days together to give results. They also make the poor believe that the private labs will give results within no time. Though there were stray incidents where the hospital's security caught some private lab employees and handed them over to the police, a concerted effort to put a check on the private interests was missing.
There were allegations that hospital officials were allowing these unhealthy trends for reasons best known to them. The judge took note of the allegations that some of the staff in the hospital were hand in glove with the private mafia and directed the district collector to assess the daily inflow of patients and the availability of lab facilities for them.
The need to upgrade the existing facilities etc. What should be done to ensure that all tests are available at the hospital and also to explore ways of involving NGOs and other service-oriented people to help the public sector hospital cater to the needs of the poor in an effective way?
Discuss with the experts and examine whether a lab centre can be set up at the causality wing of the Kurnool govt hospital itself for conducting essential emergency tests so that the emergency patients need not roam around the hospital premises in search of testing lab centres. The case will be heard again on June 26.