TDP leader K Atchannaidu involved in ESI scam, reveals probe
VIJAYAWADA: Former minister and senior TDP leader K Atchannaidu found himself in the eye of the storm on Friday after the Vigilance and Enforcement Department’s probe into irregularities in the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) hospitals, dispensaries, and diagnostic centres revealed that he had in late 2016 directed the then IMS director Dr CK Ramesh Kumar to issue work orders to a company named ‘Tele Health Services Pvt Ltd’, without inviting open tenders.
As per the department’s report, Atchannaidu, the then Labour and Employment Minister, in a missive ordered Ramesh Kumar to sign an MoU with the company to provide toll-free services to patients who call for assistance regarding pending reimbursements and referral bills.
Accordingly, Ramesh Kumar inked an MoU with the firm and agreed to pay Rs 1.80 per month for each IP irrespective of the calls attended. He also entered into another MoU with the same service provider to grant ECG services to patients at Rs 480 per ECG when the same was available in other hospitals at a maximum rate of Rs 200.
The probe found that the service provider claimed bills by submitting call logs of Telangana State IPs and the directors didn’t verify the call logs.
Similarly, it was found that the company utilised the services of PG diploma clinical cardiologists instead of qualified DM cardiologists, violating the agreement. In this entire affair, Ramesh Kumar and another director Dr G Vijaya Kumar paid Rs 4.15 crore for the toll-free services and Rs 3.81 crore for ECG services.
As a political fight broke out between the TDP and the YSRC over the alleged involvement of Atchannaidu in the irregularities, the former minister claimed he was innocent and said he merely followed directions from the Central government.
“In late 2016, the Centre wrote to all States to offer telehealth services through ESI hospitals. Accordingly, I had a meeting with officials and directed them to follow the pattern implemented in Telangana,” he said in a statement. The letter he wrote to Ramesh Kumar shows that he ordered the then director to sign an MoU with TeleHealth Services Pvt Ltd and mentioned that the Telangana government had such a pact with the firm.
Meanwhile, the name of Pithani Satyanarayana, who took over as Labour Minister after Atchannaiu in a Cabinet reshuffle, is also being linked to the scam. He is being accused of willfully keeping a memo from the Finance department in abeyance. The memo cautioned the Labour department against spending more than budget allocations and advised it not to make payments without proper bills.
Labour and Employment Minister Jayaram dismissed Atchannaidu’s defence and said stringent action would be taken against those involved in the scam. Stating that an inquiry into the scam has been ordered, he said Atchannaidu and Satyanarayana would not be let off.“It is a shame on the former ministers who are trying to dodge the charges by playing the BC card,” he observed.
‘Atchannaidu won’t escape’
Labour and Employment Minister Jayaram said TDP ministers Atchannaidu and Satyanara-yana won’t be let off.
