Striking doctors allege corruption

The doctors at the Sahakarana Hrudayalaya, the cardiac wing of Pariyaram Medical College, have alleged that there was huge corruption in the day-to-day functioning of the hospital.

The cardiac surgeons, who are on strike in protest against the slashing of their basic salary, alleged on Friday that the equipment in the hospital were pretty old and that the hospital was selling medicines to patients at more than double the purchasing price.

The doctors, led by senior cardiac surgeon Kuldeep Kumar, said the surgical equipment were purchased from a Bangalore-based firm in which the Hrudayala's CEO K V Surendranath had shares. They said this purchase, violating all norms of tender, was done without the knowledge or consent of the doctors at Hrudayalaya.

According to them, the CEO was involved in huge corruption to the tune Rs 25 lakh a month while the hospital was said to be running on a monthly loss of nearly Rs 25 lakh. They also said, according to the audit by the accounts wing, the actual loss was around Rs 6 lakh only, which means that every month there was a financial misappropriation of Rs 19 lakh at the hospital, apart from the corruption in purchase.

They also pointed out that Surendranath had been removed from the post of CEO during the previous governing body under M V Raghavan on charges of corruption, and the present governing body had brought him back.

Meanwhile, Pariyaram Medical College principal Dr B Radhakrishnan said the admission to the MBBS course, including NRI quota, was on merit basis and the entire admission process was transparent.

The principal issued this statement following reports that one seat in the NRI quota was given to the daughter of a CPM leader from Thiruvananthapuram, violating norms.

At the same time, the hospital governing body, which met here on Friday, decided to seek explanation from the doctors for trying to tarnish the image of the hospital by raising allegations.