Amritsar: Illegal entry point to government medical college blocked
Amritsar, September 20
After a long battle waged by a local activist, the authorities at Government Medical College have constructed a wall to block the illegal entry used by touts and agents of pharmaceutical firms and medical laboratories to gain access to the premises and lure gullible patients.
The gate was constructed 10 years ago allegedly at the behest of a then minister to help a certain people get access to the premises, alleged Ankur Gupta, the social activist.
Though he had been writing letter and making complaints in this regard for a long time, it was after the intervention of MLA Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh the gate was closed, said Ankur.
Ankur alleged that agents and touts of private hospitals, labs and chemists used to enter the premises undetected from the illegal gate and lured the gullible patients into getting services from them instead of the government hospital.
“They would ask the patients that the hospital is no good and they could arrange the same services for them at much cheaper rates. Once they trapped a patient, they minted money,” he said.
Ankur alleged that these touts roamed freely inside the building and even had access to patients’ wards. “This is a kind of a medical mafia. With the illegal entry now blocked we would focus more the people who are befooling poor patients,” he said.