NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday declared that the government will “name and shame” hospitals involved in any kind of corruption or malpractice in its flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana.
So far 1,200 cases of fraud, involving nearly 338 hospitals have been detected in the programme launched last year to give cashless hospitalisation benefit to the poor but the government has not made public the names of the hospitals indulged in frauds.
“Not only will such hospitals found involved in any kind of fraudulent activity and practices would be de-empanelled, their names would also be put up on the official website of PMJAY and made public. The idea is to name and shame them,” Union health minister Harsh Vardhan announced in a press conference.
Indu Bhushan, CEO of the National Health Authority, the apex body constituted to run the programme, said the decision to publicly name the fraudsters was taken in collaboration with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India to deter them from indulging in malpractices.
“We are taking stern action against such fraudsters and have filed criminal cases and FIRs in some cases. In fact, we have suggested such hospitals should not only be de-empanelled from the PMJAY but also from other schemes including that of CGHS,” Bhushan said.
Sharing details, Vardhan said 376 hospitals currently are under investigation while the NHA has taken action against 338 hospitals by either issuing show-cause notice, suspending, levying penalty or de-empanelling.
The minister also said 97 hospitals have been de-empanelled from the scheme while FIRs have been lodged against six. A total amount of `1.5 crore in penalty has been levied and nearly 1,200 cases of fraud have been confirmed.
“All these figures show the government’s zero-tolerance towards corruption and we have been able to detect these frauds because of a proactive robust strong IT anti-fraud detection system,” he said.