St George Hospital ward boy caught duping patients, selling medicines to earn money

“After the surgery, when I asked the doctor for the bill, he said he never asked for it. Since I required the bill for reimbursements under the Rajiv Gandhi Yojana, I decided to ask the same medical store for a duplicate bill,” said Kanojia. He went to Samarth Medical’s pharmacist the next day, where he was told the clip had already been returned to the store.

“I requested for the CCTV footage and realised it was the ward boy who had sold the clip back and taken money,” said Kanojia. In the CCTV footage, ward boy Dilip Salvi can be seen producing the bill and the clip from a polybag at 11.49 am on December 20, the same day Kanojia purchased it. The pharmacist checked the bill and refunded Rs 900 to him.

Kanojia then requested the hospital for CCTV footage outside the operation theatre to build proof that he had handed over the clip and bill to Salvi.

Salvi worked as a contract worker at St George Hospital. Kanojia alleged Salvi sold either hospital medicines or patients’ medicines back at respective medicine stores and pocket the refund. After the hospital authorities were informed, he was transferred to JJ Hospital. An inquiry has been initiated against him both at JJ Hospital and at MRA Marg police station, where an FIR was lodged on Tuesday. “We terminated the ward boy after he was found guilty. He has been transferred to JJ Hospital,” said the hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Jagdish Bhavani.

According to Dr T P Lahane, dean at JJ Hospital, Salvi was a temporary staffer and his contract was terminated when it ended last week. “We have requested for an inquiry in this case,” he said.