A day after over 700 patients in the citys oldest hospital,Nehru Hospital,at the premier tertiary care institute,Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER),were not served breakfast on time,courtesy delay in payment to the LPG supplier,PGI authorities showing no concern for the patients,did not fix any accountability for the incident. The least that the authorities could have done was mark an inquiry against those responsible for risking the lives of so many patients at the hospital who had to adjust with food from rehris outside the hospital, said Ram Swaroop,relative of one of the patients who was admitted to the hospital,and had to suffer because of the lackadaisical attitude of authorities. Officials said on Tuesday that the goof up on Monday was due to the Dietetics Department of the tertiary care institute. They are responsible for managing the diet of patients depending on their requirements,as per the treatment they are undergoing. Manju Wadwalkar,PGI spokesperson,said,We will ensure that such things do not happen,again. No inquiry has been marked into this,as everything was sorted out on Monday. Even the contractor should not have resorted to such a move. After all,he has been supplying LPG to the institute for the past 25 years. Even if the payment was delayed for some time,he should not have stopped gas supply to the institute. On Monday,around 700 patients at Nehru Hospital were not served breakfast as the LPG supplier to the institutes kitchen refused to supply LPG because the hospital administration did not clear the previous dues. Sources revealed that the Dietetics Department received the bill for payment of Rs 29,000 by the gas agency on September 29. However,the bill remained pending with the department for several days. It was sent to PGIs accounts branch only on October 4. Officials said that while the accounts branch cleared the bill on October 6,the Dietetics Department faltered in collecting the same,and only bothered to collect it on Monday. By then it was too late and the contractor stopped the supply of the LPG cylinders to the institute.
