After DC expose, TIMS refuses to give home-made food to Covid-19 patients
Hyderabad: The management of Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (Tims) on Tuesday began cracking down on patient attendants placing restrictions on their access to the hospital premises, and making it clear that hence forth, no home-made food will be allowed to be brought by families for their members being treated at the hospital for Covid-19.
The hospital witnessed a flurry of activity following a report published by Deccan Chronicle ‘Covid patients exploited at TIMS’ on Tuesday, over the state of affairs at TIMS, and how patients and their families were being fleeced by hospital staff, even for something as simple as giving a patient some drinking water.
Families of some patients told Deccan Chronicle the hospital administrators went around all the floors and inquired about the details in the report published by Deccan Chronicle and attempted to find out who gave the information about the goings on in the hospital. An attendant of a patient, who was among around 20 or so made to wait outside for hours in the morning with food they brought for their loved ones, said the hospital officials were upset at the news report.
“We have cross-checked with the staff and it was all made up by the patients here, I refuse to comment further on this,” said Dr Ehsan Ahmed Khan, the superintendent of TIMS.
Incidentally, the “transactions” patients attendants had to make with hospital staffers for providing basic services for their loved ones in the hospitals, have left electronic trails of payments made through online payment apps.
Interestingly, the attendants were told by the hospital administration that while they will no longer be allowed to bring food from Wednesday, they could bring any medicines that are prescribed for the patients. This “permission” to bring medicines for patients from outside, flies in the face of the health minister Etala Rajendar’s repeated claims that every government hospital is well stocked with every and any medicine required to treat Covid-19 victims.
