Odisha Cops Continue Crackdown On Hospital Touts, 10 More Held

Kendrapara: Police on Friday arrested 10 more brokers, including a woman, from government hospitals in five districts.

Three brokers were arrested in Balasore, three in Kendrapara, two in Nabarangpur, a woman broker in Jagatsinghpur and one in Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district.

On Thursday, police had arrested 30 brokers from eight districts.

The arrested brokers were accused of taking commissions from private hospitals and nursing homes and persuading patients and their attendants at government hospitals to go there with claims of better health care services. Besides, they also persuaded patients to get their medical tests done at private diagnostic centres, police said.

On September 25, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had directed the Chief District Medical Officers (CDMOs) to take action against brokers for luring and harassing patients in government hospitals.