15 hospitals under lens for ‘referral scam’

A retired educationist from Sirsa has blown the whistle on what he terms a “large-scale medical fraud” allegedly being run by at least 15 private hospitals across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

In a complaint to senior authorities, Kartar Singh, a Haryana Government pensioner, has sought the registration of an FIR and constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter. He has also suggested that the scale of the scam warrants a CBI probe.

The complaint, Singh said, was triggered by an investigative report on a digital news portal which carried video and audio recordings of doctors and hospital staff admitting to receiving hefty referral commissions. “The expose showed doctors being offered Rs 50,000 for kidney surgeries, Rs 40,000 for knee replacements and even commissions on patient deaths,” Singh wrote.

According to him, the scam is not limited to financial irregularities but amounts to “betrayal of trust against vulnerable patients.” He alleged that the “referral system” leads to inflated bills, unnecessary diagnostic tests, forced procedures and deliberate misguidance of patients.

Sharing his own experience, Singh cited an incident at a private hospital in Gurugram between August 31 and September 1, 2025. He alleged that a senior doctor pressured him to undergo a spinal surgery despite his condition being diagnosed as stable. The proposed cost of Rs 4.24 lakh included Rs 50,000 for a biopsy and Rs 1.2 lakh for an implant — more than double the rates quoted by hospitals in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

“As a Haryana Government pensioner, I was discouraged from opting out of the surgery since the expenses would be borne by the state,” Singh claimed, terming it “open loot” in collusion with regulatory authorities.

“The malpractice is not just financial fraud but a betrayal of trust that targets vulnerable patients suffering from severe and chronic illnesses,” he stressed in his letter, urging immediate intervention.