ED raids hospitals in 4 dists over Ayushman ‘fraud’

Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, July 31
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted raids on private hospitals in Kangra and Una districts over the alleged misuse of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The Central agency raided the Fortis hospital in Kangra, which is owned by RS Bali, Congress MLA from Nagrota Bagwan, and the Balaji Hospital owned by HPCC treasurer Rajesh Sharma. Bali is also the Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC). In Una, a raid was conducted on the Bankey Bihari Hospital.

Advertisement

Hospitals of Bali, HPCC treasurer searched

• The Central agency raided the Fortis hospital in Kangra owned by RS Bali, Congress MLA from Nagrota Bagwan, and the Balaji Hospital owned by HPCC treasurer Rajesh Sharma
• The Enforcement Directorate officials raided the Bankey Bihari Hospital in Una and the residences of its administrator at Behdala village in the district and another employee at Nangal in Punjab
• ED sources revealed that about 19 health institutions in Himachal were under scrutiny
• ED officials raided two private hospitals at Dhalpur and at Hathithan near Bhuntar in Kullu and scrutinised and seized documents related to the Ayushman Bharat Yojana
• Both hospitals belong to the same company, which owns another hospital at Gutkar in Mandi district
• The ED also conducted a raid at a private hospital in Mandi
• zThe agency team scrutinised the hospital’s administrative and billing records over alleged fraudulent activities. he hospital authorities are yet to make a formal statement regarding the raid

Sources said that the ED teams, most of which came in vehicles bearing Punjab registration numbers, visited the private hospitals in Kangra and Una districts around 9 am. Till the filing of this report, the raids were continuing.
The sources said that the ED conducted the raids on the basis of a case registered by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in Una on July 23 under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC against Kiran Soni, owner of the Bankey Bihari Hospital in Una. The ED had registered another case on July 16 this year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2022.
The sources said that the ED’s investigation into the PMLA case revealed that the Bankey Bihari Hospital in Una, Fortis, Shri Balaji Hospital, Sood Nursing Home and Sri Harihar Hospital in Kangra had illegally availed of the benefits of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. During investigation, 373 fake Ayushman cards were identified wherein claims of about Rs 40,68,150 were made to the government for reimbursement.
The list of fake beneficiaries included Rajnish Kumar and Pooja Dhiman, who on verification denied having possessed Ayushman cards. They had never underwent treatment in any of these hospitals. Besides, the hospitals had made claims for treatment, surgeries and admission, which the patients had never availed of.
A hospital had denied admission to Raksha Devi by illegally blocking her package under the scheme. The investigation also revealed that these hospitals were removed from the panel under the Ayushman Bharat scheme for illegal practices. As many as 8,937 Ayushman Bharat golden cards had so far been scrapped in Himachal for alleged violation of the scheme. As per the investigation so far, the case involved corruption to the tune of about Rs 25 crore, the ED sources said.
Meanwhile, Fortis owner RS Bali told The Tribune that he had nothing to hide. “We have provided all documents sought by the raiding ED teams. The Fortis Hospital, Kangra, follows the best ethical practices and I am sure that nothing will come out against our institution in the investigation,” he added.
He said, “I along with my family am out of station on vacation and will be back in Kangra soon. I will extend all cooperation to the investigating agency.” Dr Rajesh Sharma, owner of the Balaji hospital, was not available for comments. His mobile phone was switched off.
The SP, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Kangra, said that they had registered a case only against the Bankey Bihari hospital in Una. “In our investigation, it was found that people running the hospital had created fake cards under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. They had also inflated bills under the scheme in some cases. Our investigation against the hospital is still going on,” he added.
He said that the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau was not aware of the reasons for the ED raiding other hospitals in the region.