Pulled up by no less than chief minister Hemant Soren, Bokaro deputy commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary inspected Sadar Hospital in Chas on Monday and admonished its staff for the shoddy upkeep of the hospital and instructed the district civil surgeon to ensure regular monitoring to ensure that all facilities, including meals, were made available to patients.

Chaudhary, who was accompanied by deputy development commissioner Jay Kishore Prasad and Bokaro civil surgeon Dr Jitendra Kumar, also instructed the hospital staff to ensure regular replacement of bedsheets and adequate dustbins were placed at designated places to ensure the hospital was clean at all times.

The deputy commissioner's review was prompted by chief minister Hemant who re-tweeted a tweet of a local resident who had drawn his attention to the pitiable state of affairs at the hospital. Hemant then pulled up the deputy commissioner and asked him to put things in order at the earliest.

In his tweet, the Bokaro resident, Afzal Khan, had attached clippings of reports that had appeared in the vernacular press highlighting the poor condition of the hospital.

Hemant re-tweted Afzal's tweet and wrote, "@BokaroDC yeh sthiti bardast ke pare hai, avilamb sangyan lete hue sadar aspatal ki sthiti me gunwatpurn sudhar Karen (This state of affairs is beyond tolerance levels, take immediate cognizance and esnure qualitative improvement in the hospital condition)."

On Monday, therefore, Chaudhary conducted an inspection of the hospital. Beginning with the OPD counter, where he checked the register and pulled up staff after he saw cartons strewn about on the counter, he also visited various wards of the hospital, including the critical care unit (CCU) and the intensive care unit (ICU).

Some of the admitted patients complained to Chaudhary about poor housekeeping services and delayed meals. He also pulled up the deputy superintendent of the hospital and issued a stern warning to him. On complaints that the ultrasound centre and testing labs weren't functioning, he asked the deputy development commissioner to carry out a detailed probe so that appropriate action could be taken against those found negligent.