In Lal Ded hospital, valley's only maternity hospital, corruption is not an evil but an institution. Here is a necessary bribe guide to a delivery in Lal Ded. There are set rates of bribes for everything in the hospital demanded by the nursing orderlies and Operation Theatre technicians. From a new born baby being handed over to an anxious family to changing a patient's bed sheet, everything comes at a cost here. Bargaining only prolongs the misery and fetches nothing; prices are fixed here.

A baby boy is born and it costs the family Rs 500 to catch a glimpse. For a girl child though, the rate is only 200. The OT technicians and orderlies only give the child after they receive the bribe. "My wife gave birth to a boy yesterday. The orderlies in the theatre kept him ransom for 20 minutes after we tried to give them Rs 200. In the end I was forced to give 500 and then saw my child," says Ajaz Ahmad, an employee in the state forest department. "I couldn't do anything because they had my child. I was afraid that they might change him."

There are, in fact, separate rates for cutting the child's placenta. The orderlies charge 150 for it.

A change of patient's bed sheet costs them 50 rupees. For a change of panties of the patient after delivery, the orderlies demand Rs 100.

For every dressing, the attendants have to pay Rs 100.

And when the patient is finally discharged from the hospital, the orderlies stop them till each orderly gets a 100 rupee note.

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