A wider, more sinister operation has been discovered during the investigation into the deaths of two people at Ahmedabad’s Khyati Multispecialty Hospital after regular angioplasty procedures. The deaths of Nagar Senma (75) and Mahesh Barot (52) on November 11 initially sparked suspicions, which prompted a police investigation. Authorities found that the facility had reportedly participated in a large-scale fraud operation intended to take advantage of the government health insurance program known as the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
The hospital’s misconduct went beyond merely carrying out pointless operations in order to submit a PMJAY claim. Investigators discovered that the hospital had been unlawfully acquiring patient information, including age, gender, and medical conditions, from private sources, including medical records. Then, using this data, health camps were aimed at particular villages. Many middle-aged and older people, who are more likely to need heart-related treatments like angiography or angioplasty, were present in the targeted areas.
The hospital paid village sarpanches, or local leaders, commissions of 10–20% every procedure to assure the success of these health camps, which encouraged people to attend. These camps violated patient confidentiality and privacy by gathering health information from participants, which was subsequently sold to for-profit healthcare organizations.
By methodically targeting vulnerable groups and taking advantage of their health data, the hospital’s activities were compared to those of fraudulent call centers. Investigators from the crime section raided six sites and confiscated 15 CPUs that held hospital patient records. A top government official will also be questioned over the hospital’s questionable access to private information and its accelerated PMJAY claims clearance. This adds to the worries about possible higher-level collaboration or wrongdoing.
Three First Information Reports (FIRs) were filed against various hospital officials, including Dr. Prashant Vazirani, who performed the angioplasties, as well as Drs. Kartik Patel, Chirag Rajput, Sanjay Patoliya, and Rajshri Kothari, after the scheme was discovered after the hospital deaths. Since then, Rajput, the CEO, has disappeared, which has made the situation even more serious. Due to fraud and privacy violations that jeopardised public confidence in the healthcare system, this case serves as a stark reminder of the grave repercussions of unethical behavior in the sector.
SOURCE :
TIMES OF INDIA
