5 middlemen arrested for diverting patients to private hospitals from SCB in Cuttack

Once again the issue of poor patients being diverted from SCB Medical College and Hospital to various nursing homes and private hospitals has come to the fore after the arrest of five middlemen. The middlemen, who mostly worked as ambulance drivers, were arrested by Mangalabag Police on Thursday.

The incident comes in the wake of the recent incident in which a doctor at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack was accused of trying to send a patient at the trauma department to a private nursing home in the city.

On the arrest of middlemen, ACP Amitabh Mohapatra informed, “We had deployed our staff in plain clothes at the casualty wing of the SCB. We have arrested five brokers and seized some outdoor tickets and cash worth Rs 1500.”

According to Mohapatra, the middlemen used to earn money by diverting patients from the SCB to other private health institutions including nursing homes.

“Usually patients are admitted to the SCB through casualty or the outpatient department. The brokers mostly used to divert patients by luring them to better facilities like treatment by doctors, admission in ICUs, and others,” said Mohapatra.

The senior police official further said that an investigation is underway to ascertain whether the brokers have links with doctors of the premier hospital or not.