Two ward boys have been arrested for the theft of a large number of oxygen cylinders and regulators from the Hazaribagh Medical College and Hospital in Jharkhand and their sale at higher prices to relatives of Covid patients and suppliers has come to light amid the surge in coronavirus cases.
This is the first case of theft of oxygen cylinders from a government hospital in Jharkhand during the Covid-19 pandemic with the oxygen crisis affecting almost all states.
A case was registered in connection with the incident at the Sadar police station on Tuesday after deputy superintendent of the hospital Dr A.K. Singh, lodged a complaint on Monday.
The hospital is also known as the Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College Hospital.
The complaint written in Hindi by the deputy superintendent, a copy of which is available with The Telegraph, mentions that a large number of Covid patients are under treatment in the biggest hospital in the region and for them oxygen cylinders are a life-saving equipment.
“We have been getting reports from the stores for the last few days about missing big (D-type cylinders) and small (B-type cylinders) and also apprehensions that they were being stolen. We had also informed the superintendent (S. Karthik) in the recent meeting.
“We got information from oxygen cylinder supplier and owner of M/s R.R. Traders (Hazaribagh) Mohammed Afhaque Ali Rashid that two persons, both ward boys in our hospital Surendra Kumar Yadav and Mohammed Asif had approached him with an offer to sell B-type cylinders for Rs 4,000 and D-type cylinders at Rs 18,000,” the complaint said.
The oxygen cylinders at the Hazaribagh Medical College and Hospital. Shabbir Hussain
It further said that the firm owner had asked both the ward boys to bring the cylinders with an intention to trap them and recover the stolen equipment.
As soon as ward boy Mohammed Asif came with the cylinders to the supplier, he informed Sadar sub-divisional officer Vidya Bhusan and the cylinders were retrieved.
“We would like to inform you that out of a total of 165 B-type cylinders, we have only 64, and out of a total of 349 D-type cylinders, we have only 267. This apart, out of a total of 115 oxygen cylinder regulators we have got only 55 and the remaining oxygen cylinders and regulators have been stolen,” the complaint said.
A case has been registered under IPC Section 379 (theft) and Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act at the
Sadar police station and the two ward boys have been arrested.
“A complaint has been registered by the hospital deputy superintendent at the local police station and the police are investigating it. It would be premature on my part to comment on the matter,” said Hazaribagh deputy commissioner Aditya Kumar Anand.
Hazaribagh superintendent of police S. Karthik confirmed the lodging of the complaint.
“We have lodged an FIR and the matter is being investigated. We are matching the hospital records and ledger books and the ward boys have been arrested,” he said.
Hazaribagh is around 98km from state capital Ranchi.
