Centre wakes up to ‘loot’ by hospitals

Top super-speciality hospitals in Hyderabad and Secunderabad have reportedly made crores out of putting Central Government employees through...

Top super-speciality hospitals in Hyderabad and Secunderabad have reportedly made crores out of putting Central Government employees through unnecessary tests for minor ailments or by charging inflated bills.

Though the irregularities have been going on for years, these are said to have been capped at the highest level using political pressure.

The Central Vigilance Department (CVD) of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has now shot off a letter to the Southern Zonal Unit of the CBI, requesting the investigating agency to ‘‘identify all the officials of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), as well as the private hospitals/diagnostic centres, involved in the irregularities’’.

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CVD Joint Secretary Deepak Gupta has written to the Chief Controller of Accounts, New Delhi, A.S. Chauhan, calling for a special audit of the CGHS accounts in Hyderabad. According to him, these hospitals have been virtually looting the Centre in connivance with CGHS officials.

Here are some shocking cases:

A patient with backache and hypertension was subjected to repeated MRI scans, angiography (a procedure to map the heart) and prescribed costly medicines. The bill: Rs 1.59 lakh! He took medicines worth Rs 1.01 lakh. Another patient referred for an ordinary angioplasty, which would have cost just Rs 42,000, came out paying Rs 2.24 lakh.

According to documents available with The Indian Express, the CVD has identified at least four super-speciality hospitals in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad which have either played with the lives of government employees or milked the CGHS dry.

The ministry also has a fair knowledge of CGHS doctors and employees involved in the scam. But it feels this may just be the tip of the iceberg and wants the CBI to sieze the records at CGHS, Hyderabad, and interrogate officials of private hospitals.

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The Health Ministry has even ordered the transfer of some CGHS officials out of Hyderabad in order to ‘‘facilitate the investigations’’. This was said to be necessary as some earlier efforts to unravel the truth were either scuttled or shelved under political clout. For instance, when the ministry refused to pass a bill submitted by a super-speciality hospital, a local MP personally requested then Health Minister C.P. Thakur to release the funds.

Interestingly, despite the hospitals coming under a cloud for their dubious records in the past two years, a section in the CGHS, Delhi, has continued to favour them. Instead of cancelling the agreements with these hospitals, CGHS Deputy Director (Admn) Mohan Lal called the authorities concerned to Delhi to sign a fresh Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with director Dr (Mrs) L. Nongipur. CGHS sources said this was ‘‘how we rewarded people playing with lives and money’’.