Five Amritsar pvt hospitals de-empanelled from Ayushman Bharat for fraud

AS PER THE INFORMATION, THE HOSPITALS WERE CAUGHT CLAIMING MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE SCHEME FOR THE TREATMENT OF DUMMY PATIENTS

AMRITSAR : Punjab health department has de-empanelled five private hospitals in Amritsar for embezzling funds under the Ayushman Bharat Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana Scheme (AB-SSBY), district civil surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh said on Sunday.

The hospitals are Manu Arora Hospital in Chheharta; Verma Hospital in Mirankot; Akashdeep Hospital in Diamond Avenue; New Life Hospital in Majitha Road and Sandhu Lifecare Hospital in Chheharta.

All these hospitals were caught claiming money from the government for the treatment of patients under the scheme in a fraudulent manner. Dummy entries were made and sent to the government to embezzle funds, it has been learnt.

The Ayushman Bharat Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana Scheme is a flagship state health insurance scheme which provides health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family, per year. The scheme provides financial protection to around 75% population of Punjab.

“In Amritsar, 10 government and 87 private hospitals are empanelled under this scheme and the health department monitors these hospitals. In these five hospitals, misappropriation of funds and a scam has been detected, after which the government decided to de-list them. We found that Manu Arora admitted his wife, Poonam Arora, in the hospital under the scheme. When the health department inspected records, his wife was found healthy. Her hospital admission was faked to get money,” said civil surgeon Dr Charanjit.

He added that New Life Hospital had told the Punjab government that it performed a surgery on a patient, but when checked it was found the hospital does not have a surgeon.

At Sandhu Life Care Hospital, a dead patient was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), health department officials found, Dr Charanjit said.

Deputy medical commissioner Dr Gurmeet Kaur has prepared a detailed report on these hospitals, with proof, and has sent them to the state health department for deeper investigation.

“Investigation is on and soon an first investigation report (FIR) will be lodged with the police against the said medical facilities. Hospital owners and those who were involved in the scam will be prosecuted. This scheme is meant to help the financial weaker sections of society, but such scams are causing a huge loss to the state government,” said Dr Charanjit, adding that he had also requested the state health department to re-inspect the remaining 82 private hospitals empanelled with Ayushman Bharat scheme in Amritsar.