VIJAYAWADA: Vigilance and enforcement sleuths conducted raids on 35 hospitals across the state on Wednesday to check whether the government guidelines with respect to Covid-19 treatment are being followed. Criminal cases were booked against nine of them for violating the norms, director general (vigilance) KVRN Rajendranath Reddy said.
The flying squads constituted to monitor the functioning of these hospitals found that the erring hospitals were charging patients exorbitantly, and did not offer treatment under Aarogyasri scheme. They were also misusing Remdesivir vials. Cases against them were registered under various sections of IPC, and Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Disaster Management Act. In three cases, the accused were arrested, and accused in two others were absconding.
The erring hospitals are Queen’s NRI hospital in Vizianagaram, Prakasam Hospital in Ongole, RICH hospitals in Nellore, Sri Gayatri Hospital in Kurnool, Ramadevi Multi-Speciality hospital in Tirupati, Puvvada hospital in Narsaraopet of Guntur district, SV Multi- Speciality hospital in Anantapur, KCH and Komma Hospitals in Kadapa. RIC H Hospital in Nellore misappropriated Remdesivir, and could not account for 31 missing vials of the drug.
Similarly, Sri Gayatri hospital in Kurnool also misappropriated the drug, and could not account for 70 vials. Queen’s NRI was found to have misappropriated Remdesivir by manipulating case sheets, and officials said though the patients condition did not require the drug, the hospital showed that patients were administered with the drug and procured more vials. The hospitals in Guntur, Anantapur and Kadapa were found charging more than the prescribed rates for Covid treatment, and also collecting advances against the guidelines.