Kiran Bedi scales fences of a government hospital as officials had misplaced keys on a field visit

Kiran Bedi

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor (LG) Kiran Bedi today showed glimpses of her past as a sportswoman and a brave IPS officer when she scaled a fence at the premises of the government hospital here during a field visit.

Bedi (68) jumped over the brick fence as the officials had misplaced its keys.

Bedi, the first woman to join the Indian Police Service (IPS), wanted to inspect a statue of the "Our Lady of Lourdes", which was kept in a shed encircled by the 3.5-foot- high brick fence.

However, she was kept waiting as the hospital authorities had reportedly misplaced the keys to the gate of the fence.

To everyone's astonishment, the LG suddenly jumped over the fence to enter the shed.

Karaikal District Collector R Kesavan, Senior Superintendent of Police V J Chandran and other officials present on the occasion had no option but follow suit.

Bedi, who prefers riding a bicycle on her weekend field visits to the outlying areas of Puducherry, is on a five day trip to Karaikal, an enclave of the union territory.

She is here to acquaint herself with the various shortcomings in the working of the agriculture college, government hospital and implement welfare schemes.

On the fourth day of her visit today, the LG went to the hospital to review the facilities there and interact with the patients.

She described the dirty surroundings of the hospital as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and directed the officials to clean the place immediately.

Bedi also interacted with the patients and held a consultative meeting with the officials to decide on the steps to be taken for improving the condition of the hospital.

She directed the officials to outsource the cleaning operations and carry out weekly inspections.

The LG also directed the collector to issue notices to the 16 medical staff, who were supposed to serve at the Karaikal hospital, but were, instead, attending to work at the Puducherry hospital.

"If they do not report to work at Karaikal, hold their salary for this month," she told the collector.

Bedi also directed the JIPMER administration at Puducherry to depute a special team to the Karaikal government hospital to tackle dengue cases.

Yesterday, the LG had visited the Keezhakaskudy fishing hamlet and interacted with the fisherwomen there.

Following complaints that they were finding it difficult to get loans from government agencies, she said she would convene a meeting of bankers and direct them to train the women on marketing and how to get loans.

Bedi also advised the fisherwomen not to borrow from private money-lenders.