Patna. A case of fraud with patients has come to light in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) located in Patna, the capital of Bihar. After investigation into allegations of fraud in AIIMS management, the service contract of a Delhi-based firm was cancelled. The employees of the firm had collected up to Rs 3 lakh from the patients by editing the bills and increasing the fees through software tools.
The amount was being increased by tampering with the bills
Regarding the matter, it is being told that the employees of the firm were increasing the amount by tampering with the bills of the patients being discharged from AIIMS. A patient was defrauded to the tune of Rs 6,000. After the case of fraud came to light, the hospital management conducted a preliminary investigation and after the investigation found truth in it, the employees of the private firm serving in Patna AIIMS were immediately suspended.
The question was asked to the director only four days ago
Four days ago, information regarding this was sought from AIIMS Director Dr. Gopal Krishna Pal in the local media. Dr. Pal has additional charge of Gorakhpur AIIMS, he returned to Patna from there on Monday itself. As soon as he reached Patna, he canceled the contract of Delhi firm Alankit. 33 employees of this firm were serving at the registration and billing counter of Patna AIIMS.
The contract was going to end in the month of March
The three-year contract of this firm was about to end in the month of March. Dr. Pal said that we have suspended the clerks of outsourced firm Alankit allegedly involved in the fraud. The contract of the firm was also terminated from January 15. An internal committee is investigating the matter, further action will be taken based on its findings.
Recovery from one to six thousand rupees
It is said that extra charges ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 6,000 were seen in the hospital bills of more than 25 patients. Patients were given a bill with increased charges at the time of discharge. According to officials, this matter first came to light on January 2. In Patna AIIMS, a whole gang was working to cheat the patients. The employees of the firm would first download the bill on the computer. Then they would be edited with the help of software tools and the fee would be increased in the PDF copy.
Secret of fraud revealed in insurance claim
According to local media reports, when a man submitted the AIIMS bill for verification for an insurance claim after his mother’s treatment, he found out that there was a difference in the amount between the bill given to him and the actual bill at the hospital. After this, a random check of the bills of the patients who had been treated at AIIMS since last July was done. It came to light that till now a total of Rs 3 lakh has been misappropriated in many bills.
Thousands of rupees recovered from many patients
As part of a media trial, it was revealed that the hospital bill of a person named Ravi Shankar was actually Rs 81859, whereas he was charged Rs 87859, that is, Rs 6 thousand more was charged. Similarly, Mohammad Ghaznafar deposited Rs 5000, Nakhat Shaheen and Aditya Narayan deposited Rs 4 thousand more in the hospital. Thousands of rupees were also recovered from many other patients.