Amid an ongoing crackdown on private hospitals against alleged irregularities linked to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Mukhyamantri Amrutam (PMJAY-MA), the state government of Gujarat has suspended five hospitals and two doctors. The suspended hospitals are from Patan, Dahod, Ahmedabad and Aravalli districts. Since January, 12 hospitals have been suspended for such irregularities under the government health scheme.
The state government issued an official statement on Monday suspending five hospitals. In the statement, the government emphasized that no hospital or doctor would tolerate any irregularities under the scheme.
The five hospitals suspended under the scheme are Patan’s Veer Children’s Hospital and Nishka Children’s Hospital and Neonatal Treatment; Sonal Hospital in Dahod; Sentara Orthopedic Hospital in Ahmedabad and Sri Jalaram Children’s Hospital in Aravali. According to officials, five hospitals have been suspended under the scheme after various weaknesses and irregularities came out during the visit of the State Fraud Control Unit (SAFU) team.
Safu’s team was found to have tampered with the reports of about 91 laboratories during the pre-authorization visit to Heer Hospital in Patan. The hospital and one of its doctors, Hiren Patel, have been suspended under the scheme. In addition, the hospital has been charged a fine of 50.27 lakhs and recovery amount. Under the plan, Patan’s health spring 24 pathology laboratory has also been suspended.
At Niska Children’s Hospital and Neonatal Care Center, nearly 60 reports of tampering were discovered during pre-authorization. Likewise, the laboratory report of the patient has not been received even in the laboratory that has a contract with the hospital. Under the plan, the hospital and one of its doctors, Divyesh Shah, were later suspended. The hospital has been charged a fine of 15 lakh 16 thousand and recovery amount.
Shiv Diagnostic Laboratory in Patan has also been suspended under the scheme.
According to the guidelines, the plan was postponed due to the lack of manpower and infrastructure at Sonal Hospital in Dahod. There has also been a decrease in infection control.
Meanwhile, Ahmedabad’s Sentara Hospital was found to be operating without permission to use its fourth and fifth floor buildings apart from lack of staff and a modular operation theater as per guidelines. A stock of expired medicines was also found in the hospital. It is suspended until construction use permit is obtained and other deficiencies are complied with. The hospital has been operational since July 2018.
It has been found that the fire safety certificate of Shree Jalaram Children’s Hospital in Aravali has expired. According to the guidelines, management was not found in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) of the hospital. It has been suspended until the fire safety certificate and other guidelines are complied with.
In a government release, Safu’s team has also visited other hospitals in the state and the records of the hospitals are being evaluated.
“If found to have violated the guidelines of the scheme, action will be taken against those hospitals,” said the statement.
“Since the beginning of the scheme, the state government has resolved that the poor and middle class patients of the state get free treatment. “The state government is determined not to tolerate the inhumane practices of hospitals and doctors who commit irregularities under the guise of schemes,” a government statement said.
It added that after finding irregularities under the PMJAY-MA scheme, the state government has also formulated standard operating procedure (SOP) for various medical procedures like cardio, radio, chemo and neonatal care and it will be announced soon.