A scene straight out of a drama unfolded in the dean's cabin at state-run JJ Hospital in Byculla on Wednesday. An unidentified man in his late twenties was hauled up by a group of senior doctors and angry relatives of a patient for having conned them under the pretext of getting blood tests done.
The patient, 19-year-old Satyaprakash, resident of Koparkhairne in Navi Mumbai, was admitted to JJ Hospital's casualty with kidney trouble on Wednesday. The accused approached Satyaprakash's uncle, SK Pandey, posing as a ward boy of the hospital.
"He marched towards the patient armed with a kit of syringes and ampoules. He demanded up to Rs 1,200 on two occasions, and told us that doctor had asked that blood samples be collected and send to private laboratories for testing," SK Pandey told dna.
Claiming that doctor had asked that diagnostic tests be done, the accused used to collect blood samples of patients, and note down their identification numbers and names from the hospital's case papers.
Dean of JJ Hospital, Dr TP Lahane said that after collecting the details of a patient, the accused would pose as the patient's relative and approach the laboratories in JJ Hospital to submit the samples for testing.
"The patient's relatives usually do all the running around for submitting samples and collecting lab reports. They are mostly illiterate. They believe conmen who offer to help and part with huge amount of money," said Lahane.
Dr Lahane said it had come to his notice that two unidentified men had entered the campus and were surreptitiously trying to make a quick buck at the expense of naïve relatives.
"I had been told that strangers had been spotted around casualty and outpatient departments interacting with patients. We have been monitoring all spots on CCTV cameras since a week," Lahane told dna. This man is being suspected of having fleeced close to at least a hundred patients over the last week.
On Wednesday, Dr VW Patil, head, department of biochemistry, started questioning the suspicious looking imposter about the patient's details whose blood samples he had come to submit in the lab. "Noticing that he was an imposter, I hauled him up and took him to the patient's relatives, who said he had taken Rs 1,200 from them," said Dr Patil.
The imposter used to charge up to twenty times more for blood tests that cost as less as Rs 50 in the hospital labs, and pocket humungous profits.
Up to 6,000 blood samples get processed in JJ Hospital on a daily basis in biochemistry, pathology and microbiology departments. While outpatient departments send 4,000 samples for testing, up to 2,000 are those of in-house patients.
"We will hand over the accused to JJ Marg police station where an FIR under the cheating case will be filed against him," said Dr Lahane.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}