Four ventilators worth ₹20 lakh stolen from RIMS Adilabad

Four ventilators worth an estimated ₹20 lakh have been stolen from the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Adilabad district with the police registering a case and launching an investigation.

According to the complaint submitted by Goka Subashini, a senior nursing officer and head nurse at RIMS, the ventilators were stolen from the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU) and the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and Tuberculosis (TB) wards on October 30.

The theft came to light on the morning of October 31 when hospital staff were checking the equipment during a shift change. Initially, the staff suspected that the ventilators had been taken by technicians for repairs. However, when the equipment was not returned even after two days, the matter was brought to the notice of senior officials.

Following instructions from the hospital authorities, CCTV footage was examined, which showed unidentified persons stealing the four ventilators at around 2.38 p.m. on October 30.

Each ventilator is estimated to cost ₹5 lakh, taking the total value of the stolen equipment to ₹20 lakh. The Adilabad II Town Police registered a case under Section 303 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), pertaining to theft, and took up an investigation. The accused have not yet been identified.