GMERS Gotri hospital files complaint against housekeeping contractor over irregularities

The GMERS Gotri hospital lodged a complaint with the Vadodara police against negligence and irregularities on the part of the Bhavnagar-based contractor supplying housekeeping services at the hospital. In a written complaint to the police, Medical Superintendent Dr Vishala Pandya has said that “gross negligence by the firm in terms of provision of manpower and irregularities in housekeeping services has been observed”.

Dr Pandya in her complaint has alleged that the firm has put the lives of several patients at risk by not complying with the instructions or improving their services in times of the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

The owners of the firm — M J Solanki and Dipak Nakrani also gave the scheduled meeting a miss despite timely intimation.

On May 28, The Indian Express had reported the ordeal of the kin of Covid-19 patients admitted to the Gotri hospital who described the lack of empathy by the sanitation and housekeeping staff that refused to attend to personal hygiene of patients.

Rao told this newspaper, “We have filed a complaint for various shortcomings which are in clear violation of the terms of the contractor. To begin with they are not providing manpower as decided. But salaries are being collected for more number of employees who are not actually reporting at the hospital. We also learnt that the contractor was extracting a huge salary for the employee but the final payment to the employee is much lower. So we have decided to install biometric attendance system with immediate effect and also book the contractor. The police will probe the complaint and decide the relevant sections that would apply.”

Earlier in April, after several complaints regarding the negligence of the sanitation staff had surfaced, Rao had directed the authorities to file FIRs against sanitation workers under the Epidemic Act if they refused to do their jobs.

“…There are also complaints about the staff leaving from duty earlier than usual and reporting later than the scheduled time, leading to a gap when staff is not available. The biometric systems will help us keep check,” Rao said.

Rao has also instructed the officers of the Gujarat electricity board concerned to resolve all pending issues of air conditioning, fluctuating voltage, erratic electricity at the Gotri hospital, which has seen disruption in power supply on multiple occasions even as patients continue to be on life support system.

The Vadodara police has summoned the owners of the firm to cooperate with the inquiry. “We have initiated an inquiry based on the complaint submitted by the medical superintendent. The owners are not cooperating so far, which is why we have served a notice to them. FIR will be registered under relevant sections and necessary Acts after the inquiry,” said Anupamsinh Gahlaut, Commissioner of Police, Vadodara.