NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government hospitals, sources said on Friday.
This comes after Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI inquiry into the matter to the Home Ministry.
Probe documents revealed that the initial digits of the mobile numbers of the patients, documented for maintaining records of patients to whom tests were prescribed, started with 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 which do not exist in India. It also showed that thousands of tests were prescribed to people with different names but with common mobile numbers. Data related to at least 20,000 medical tests conducted either had no mobile number in the records or had “0” as the entry.
Around 3,100 tests were recommended on one number which is “999999999” and it is nothing but sheer fraud done to generate false tests.
These are some of the methods allegedly employed at seven mohalla clinics in Delhi to get lakhs of tests conducted on dummy patients, payments for which were made to private diagnostic firms, as per an inquiry by the Vigilance department.
The alleged scam first came to light in September 2023 after it was noticed that some doctors and staff of seven Mohalla Clinics in Southwest, Shahdara and Northeast districts were fraudulently marking their attendance through pre-recorded videos.
(With inputs from Delhi bureau)