Bhubaneswar – A Special Vigilance Court in Sundargarh has sentenced a former Medical Officer of Gurundia Community Health Centre (CHC) to five years of rigorous imprisonment for accepting a bribe of ₹10,000 from a vehicle owner in exchange for signing a logbook required to process a hire charge bill.
The doctor was convicted under Sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and was also fined by the court, according to a PTI report.
As per Odisha Vigilance, the doctor had demanded the bribe to sign the necessary logbook for a vehicle engaged by the complainant. Following the successful conviction, the Vigilance Department will now approach the competent authority to initiate his dismissal from government service.
The doctor, currently posted as the Medical Officer in charge at the Gurandi Community Health Centre in Ganjam district, was previously associated with the CHC in Sundargarh where the incident occurred.
This case comes in the wake of multiple recent corruption-related incidents involving healthcare professionals. We earlier reported a disturbing case from Surguja, Chhattisgarh, where a contractual doctor allegedly demanded ₹10,000 per postmortem for two drowned children, delaying the procedure until villagers intervened.
The latest conviction serves as a warning amid ongoing efforts to curb corruption and ensure accountability in the healthcare sector.
