MADURAI, Jun 12 (TNN) : The father of an 18-year-old youth has petitioned the chief minister's cell that his son died at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai since he could not pay a bribe of Rs 300 demanded by a hospital worker. Worse, a woman employee took away Rs 80 -all that he had --to bring the body from the mortuary.

G Ganapathy of K Pudur in Madurai had taken his son Rajendra Prasad to the hospital, with breathing difficulty and convulsions, on May 2. The man who was pushing the stretcher, took away the hospital admission slip when denied bribe, and the doctor delayed treatment in the absence of the slip.

State health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan told TOI on Saturday that he had orde red an inquiry into the incident. "It is the duty of a doctor to stabilise the condition of a patient who needs emergency care without waiting for formalities. We have asked the dean to submit a report,'' he said.
Ganapathy said a man in khaki moved his son from the ambulance around 10am. In the casualty ward, Prasad was given first aid and was referred to ward 109 for an ECG. The receipt for admission to the emergency ward was given after 20 minutes. The worker demanded `300 to push the stretcher. When it was refused, the worker left the stretcher and walked away with the admission slip.

Ganapathy moved his son to a bed, but by then Prasad was bleeding from the mouth and had another bout of seizures.The doctor in the ward refused treatment without the admission slip. Ganapathy had to seek help from the sub-inspector at the police outpost to locate the worker. Another worker, identified as Pandi, promised to help Ganapathy but by the time he got back the receipt, Prasad was dead. At the mortuary gate, workers demanded `100 for a gate pass. Then a woman employee demanded another `200 to bring the body on the stretcher. When Ganapathy told her that he had only `80 with him, she took it. Later, he said, the ambulance driver demanded `500 to take the body to the cremation ground, but he had nothing by then.

On May 24, the family complained to the Madurai collector. The hospital dean called the family for an inquiry , but Ganapathy said nothing came out of it.

Government Rajaji Hospital Dean Dr M R Vairamuthur Raju said they found that the man who demanded money from Ganapthy was not a hospital worker.