The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has filed FIRs against three swab collectors in Yeshwantpur and Mallathalli Urban Primary Health Centres and suspended them from service.
According to a public notice issued by the BBMP’s Rajarajeshwarinagar Medical Officer of Health on Thursday, Venkatesh (Mallathaalli UPHC) and Naresh and Pavan (Yeshwantpur UPHC) were allegedly accepting bribes from citizens to issue COVID-19 negative reports.
Health officials have filed complaints with the jurisdictional police.
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BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said complaints have been received from citizens about middlemen fleecing them for tests and vaccination. “The BBMP is providing all services, right from conducting RT-PCR test to vaccination, free of cost. Citizens need not pay for any service,” he clarified.
This is not the first time that PHC staff have been caught tampering with the testing process. Earlier in April, two BBMP contract employees at a PHC in Kodigehalli were suspended for manipulating COVID-19 testing kits. They were allegedly sending swabs to laboratories without actually taking any nasal or oral samples, said police officials.