On Thursday, the Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau caught two doctors who were serving as medical officers at the Sola Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. They were nabbed for accepting a bribe of Rs 8 lakh for clearing the bill for food that was served to COVID-19 patients admitted at the hospital.

The Gujarat ACB officials informed that Dr Shailesh Kumar Patel, medical officer and administrative officer of Grade 2 and Dr Upendra Patel, medical officer and Resident Medical Officer of Grade 2 of Sola Civil Hospital are the accused doctors. The hospital is also known as Government Medical Education and Research Society Medical College and Hospital, Sola.

On Thursday, both the accused medical officers were caught in an ACB trap inside the hospital premises. They had accepted a bribe of Rs 8 lakh from the petitioner who had approached the anti-corrupt investigators as he was asked to pay a bribe of Rs 18 lakh by the accused doctors. According to the ACB, the accused medical officers had assured the complainant that they would clear the bill of Rs 1.18 crore, the cost for food that was served to COVID-19 patients and staff of Sola Civil Hospital in the last four months. The medical officers had already accepted a bribe amount of Rs 10 lakh earlier from the accused and on Thursday were supposed to receive the remaining Rs 8 lakh while they were nabbed.

G V Padheriya, Assistant Director of ACB, said that the complainant in the case, kept anonymous on request had approached them saying that the superintendent of Sola Civil Hospital gave order to the petitioner’s brother’s canteen to get water and food to all COVID-19 patients and medical staff at the hospital. The total bill earned for the last four months was Rs 1.18 crore. At first, the accused demanded 30% cut for clearing the bill. But, later they decided at Rs 16 lakh as their commission and they received Rs 10 lakh also. They demanded Rs 2 lakh more from the complainant in exchange of offering three years’ tender to his brother’s canteen. The ACB has recovered the bribe amount from the doctors and has also detained them. Both the doctor’s COVID-19 tests have been done. After the results, they will be arrested formally. They have to trace the remaining Rs 10 lakh which the accused doctors had taken in the past.

According to the ACB, both the accused medical officers are serving for more than 15 years at the hospital.

Source: The Indian Express