RAIPUR: A case of institutional negligence and suspected fraud has rocked the health department in Sarguja, northern Chhattisgarh, after official records kept a police constable “alive” on paper for 42 days after his death, culminating in an automated discharge message sent to his grieving family congratulating him on his “recovery”.
The deceased, Devnarayan Ram, was a constable in the police department. On June 26, 2026, he was admitted to Ambikapur Medical College Hospital after a critical deterioration in his health. He died four days later, on June 30, 2026, and his official death certificate was subsequently issued.
However, medical records under the government’s flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme told a starkly different story.
Instead of marking the patient as deceased, hospital records showed his treatment continuing on paper for more than six weeks. The discrepancy came to light when Seema Kujur, the late constable’s wife and a staff nurse at Jashpur District Hospital, received an automated SMS from the Ayushman Sarathi system.
The message read: “Dear Devnarayan, we are pleased to inform you that you have recovered and are heading home....”
The message listed his official discharge date as August 6, 2026 — more than a month after his actual death and funeral.
Kujur, who is familiar with hospital administrative protocols through her own career as a nurse, expressed shock at receiving the message and questioned why her late husband’s treatment remained active long after his death.
“Is this merely a technical oversight, or is a massive racket operating within the Ayushman Bharat scheme?” Kujur asked, demanding a high-level inquiry.
“How can a system remain unaware of a patient’s death for 42 days? If this is happening to a family of police personnel, one can only imagine what common, poor or tribal citizens face,” she said.
Following widespread reaction to the automated Ayushman Bharat discharge message sent 42 days after the constable’s death, senior health officials clarified the cause of the technical lapse while rejecting allegations of financial fraud.
Dr R C Arya, Superintendent of Ambikapur Medical College Hospital, explained the mechanics behind the automated SMS system.
“After the death of the constable, no package was deducted under the Ayushman scheme. Only Rs 16,500 has been deducted for the treatment course. It is surprising that his wife, who herself is from the medical field, is making such a claim. However, the message was dispatched after 42 days because it was an auto-generated SMS, which is not under our control. We will formally write to request that such auto-generated messages be stopped from reaching families after a patient’s death and once a case file is closed,” Dr Arya told this newspaper.
Sarguja Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr P S Marko acknowledged operational lapses in the hospital’s administrative workflow that resulted in the delay in updating the portal.
“It seems laxity and delayed updates by the working staff and operators at the medical college hospital apparently led to this situation,” Marko told TNIE.
