Tout offering discount on drugs nabbed at PMCH

PATNA: A tout, identified as Pankaj Kumar Giri, was arrested at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) while trying to lure a patient’s attendant to buy medicines on 30% discount from a store outside the hospital on Wednesday.

The tout approached Sanjeet Kumar Yadav, whose aunt was admitted there on Tuesday, and promised 30% discount on medicines from a shop opposite PMCH. “When asked about the man, Yadav said about Giri’s offer. I immediately alerted the guards, who caught the tout when he tried to escape. He was handed over to the police,” central emergency head Dr Abhijeet Singh said.

Giri from Masaurhi had come to PMCH last month for the treatment of one of his relatives. A medical store hired him to lure and misguide patients and their attendants in the name of discounts on medicines. “Medicines are free at PMCH. Some medicines are not available sometimes. In that case, the patients have to buy from outside. But the patients are lured to buy even those medicines from outside which are easily available at PMCH,” a source said.

When contacted, PMCH superintendent Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said substandard nursing homes use touts to lure patients from PMCH. “We are carrying out an intensive drive to curb this problem. A committee comprising deputy superintendent Dr R K Jamiar, Dr Abhijeet Singh and medical officer Dr Chandan has been formed to catch suspicious people,” he said and added that they had received complaints about the presence of touts in the gynaecology wards as well.

PMCH chief security officer Col. Akhtar Ali said the problem of touts has been drastically reduced in recent months. “The only way to catch these elements is to be alert,” Ali said.