Hyderabad: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials continued their raids at NIMS Hospital in Panjagutta for a second day. They are checking hospital records after allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of lower-level employees. Food inspectors also inspected the NIMS canteen.
Officials from three departments carried out simultaneous inspections following the corruption allegations. On Thursday, officials from the ACB, Food Safety and Drugs departments inspected the hospital for about 15 hours.
The allegations concern the recruitment of lower-level employees. NIMS recruited a total of 540 skilled and non-skilled employees. The ACB has reportedly received information that irregularities took place in the process. Recruits were allegedly charged between Rs 60,000 and Rs 5 lakh each. They were reportedly told to collect money from inpatients and were told they could earn Rs 30,000 a month on top of their salary.
Security contract awarded without tender
During the searches, the ACB found that the hospital awarded its security contract to the old company without a tender. The ACB has also reportedly found evidence that Lakshmi Bhaskar played a key role in the irregularities at NIMS.
On the first day, an ACB team inspected the records of NIMS Hospital. ACB Central Investigation DSP Lakshmi Kanth Reddy led the team that went through records in the NIMS administrative department. Drug inspectors searched the surgical store. Four of them inspected the records on the storage of medicines and medical equipment.