Puzhal prison hospital doctor shunted out
Senior TN prison officials, speaking to DT Next, had claimed that the Health Department was unwilling to shift certain doctors from the prison hospital despite repeated requests.
Representative image
CHENNAI: The Health department on Saturday transferred a senior doctor serving in Puzhal Central Prison hospital. Dr Keerthivasan, who was serving in the prison hospital, has been shifted to Ponneri GH, sources said.
It may be noted that there were allegations of graft by medical staff inside the jail hospital by prisoners. DT Next, in an exposé on October 19, ‘Haves buy way out of jail to hospital, have-nots die waiting’, had detailed the modus operandi employed by certain prison doctors to extort the ‘ailing’ inmates of the remand prison in Puzhal with possible connivance of jail officials.
Senior TN prison officials, speaking to DT Next, had claimed that the Health Department was unwilling to shift certain doctors from the prison hospital despite repeated requests. Following the DT Next exposé, an internal inquiry was ordered into the functioning of the prison hospital.
Jail inmates had alleged that a particular doctor had been demanding Rs 50,000 for getting referred to an outside hospital as an outpatient and Rs 3-5 lakh for hospital admission.
There were allegations that the malpractice by medical team members in allowing the prisoners to avail treatment at hospitals like Royapettah GH and Stanley Medical College had resulted in even deaths of those unable to pay the exorbitant money.
Sources in the prison department also disclosed the possible involvement of senior jail officials in the scam of extortion from inmates in the name of better care is also being looked into by the department’s Vigilance team.
