UP: Overcharging Re 1 from patients costs govt hospital employee his job
Maharajganj (UP), Sep 18: Allegedly charging patients Rs 2 instead of the stipulated fee of Re 1 at a Community Health Centre (CHC) has cost a contractual employee his job here in eastern Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
The pharmacist was dismissed following an unannounced inspection by local BJP MLA Prem Sagar Patel at the Jagdaur CHC on Monday. The Siswa legislator said he had received complaints from the public regarding irregularities at the state-run health facility.
During his inspection, Patel discovered that patients were allegedly being charged Rs 2 instead of the official Re 1 for prescriptions by the pharmacist. Purported videos of the MLA's "surprise inspection" of the CHC have surfaced on social media.
Patel said he interacted with patients and their families and learned about other issues at the facility, including alleged delays in receiving government aid for childbirth, the absence of female doctors at night, and the practice of prescribing medicines from external medical stores.
"How dare you charge one rupee more from the poor patients?" Patel was heard telling the pharmacist in one of the videos circulating on social media.
Later in the day, the District Health Department officials confirmed that the pharmacist, identified as Sanjay, was a contractual employee hired by a third-party agency.
"The services of the employee involved in overcharging have been terminated," Additional Chief Medical Officer Rajendra Prasad told PTI on Monday evening.
In one of the purported video clips, Patel was heard telling the CHC staff that he hails from a village and understands what "poverty and helplessness" feel like.
"So there is no need for you to explain to me what was going on. I know it," the BJP MLA told the staff.
उत्तर प्रदेश के महाराजगंज के सरकारी अस्पताल में #BJP विधायक प्रेम सागर पटेल जी को सुनिए..
— Akhilesh Tiwari (अखिलेश तिवारी) (@Akhilesh_tiwa) September 16, 2024
"मैं वो विधायक नही हूं, अगर कलम रखा तो निपटना तय है.."
यहां फार्मासिस्ट द्वारा पर्ची के लिए 1 की जगह 2 रुपए ले रहा था.. pic.twitter.com/WxDJnwQPoV
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
