The State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology is in the news again and this time for wrong reasons. Members of the Bharatiya Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Vedike, comprising some doctors and other staff members of the institute, have alleged that institute director K.B. Linge Gowda has indulged in large-scale corruption.
At a programme organised on Tuesday for the groundbreaking ceremony of Infosys Foundation Dharmashala in the institute where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presided, the vedike members led by R. Vinay Kumar, Assistant Professor of Radiology in the institute, tried their best to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister demanding a high-level inquiry against the director. However, the police stopped them from meeting Mr. Siddaramaiah.
Demanding that the Chief Minister take over the chairmanship of the Governing Council of the institute from Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash R. Patil, Dr. Vinay Kumar told The Hindu that the director has been involved in various corruption cases and 13 lokayukta cases have been filed against him.
Displaying documents to prove his allegations, the doctor said: “The director has not just misused State and Union government grants, but has also indulged in nepotism. Moreover, his candidature for the director’s post was considered despite him not meeting the required eligibility criteria. Although we brought this to the notice of the Medical Education Minister several times, he has not taken it seriously.”
Dr. Gowda denied the allegations and said: “People who are against the development of the institute are making these false allegations to tarnish my image. How can government grants be misused ? All accounts have been maintained,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister expressed concern over the reluctance on part of medical graduates to take up rural service. Lauding the contribution of Infosys Foundation Chairperson Sudha Murty for the construction of a new dharmashala, the Chief Minister said other businessmen should emulate her example.
Speaking about her concern for the poor in government hospitals, Ms. Murty said both her children were born in a government hospital. “My father was a doctor in the government-run Karnataka Institue of Medical Sciences and I spent my childhood in the environs of the hospital,” she said.
