THANE, Aug. 15 -- For Ram Soni, a trip to a civic hospital after a leg injury should have ended with a plaster cast. Instead, the patient walked out with pieces of discarded cardboard strapped to his fractured leg, an alleged shortage of plaster of Paris (POP) at the KDMC-run Rukminibai Hospital in Dombivli leaving his family stunned, resulting in outrage among residents. Ram, a resident of Beturkarpada in Kalyan, was rushed to the hospital on Thursday afternoon after injuring his leg. An X-ray confirmed the fracture. But when his son Abhay took him to the dressing room, the family was allegedly told that plaster was unavailable and that they would have to pay to procure it from outside if they wanted his father's leg plastered. "When I took my father to the dressing room, the staff informed us that plaster was not available. They told us that if we wanted my father's leg to be plastered, we would have to pay Rs.800 for purchasing four plaster rolls from outside. However, if we paid the staff, they would provide them for Rs.100 each. When I could not pay the money, the staff placed discarded cardboards on my father's fractured leg and wrapped it with a cotton bandage," Abhay said. The incident came to light after a video showing the cardboard being used to support Ram's fractured leg went viral. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) corporator Ganesh Landge, who visited the hospital after the incident, alleged that KDMC spends crores of rupees on medicines and medical equipment for patients, yet hospital staff are allegedly demanding money from them. "The staff treating the fracture first told him that plaster was not available at the hospital and later asked him to pay Rs.100 each for four plaster rolls, totalling Rs.400, saying the same rolls would cost Rs.200 each if purchased from outside," Landge said. Former corporator and Congress leader Navin Singh also blamed the civic administration for the state of KDMC-run hospitals. "The commissioner and the leaders of the KDMC have totally failed to manage the hospitals and fulfil their administrative responsibilities. The commissioner, along with the mayor and other leaders in power in the KDMC, must resign," Singh said. MNS chief, Kalyan, Harshad Patil, said the cardboard incident was only the latest in a series of allegations of negligence at KDMC hospitals. He had urged deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde to have the government take over the responsibility of KDMC-run hospitals. KDMC, however, said its inquiry found that the hospital had sufficient medical supplies and blamed a sanitation worker for allegedly demanding money from the patient's family. Dr Deepa Shukla, medical health officer of the KDMC, said, "We came to know about the incident in which our sanitation staffer, identified as Mukesh Pandit, allegedly demanded Rs.400 from the patient's relative. We conducted an inquiry into the matter and found that there is sufficient stock of medical supplies at the hospital."...