Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the allegations of fake lab tests on ghost patients in mohalla clinics run by the Delhi government. It is alleged that “lakhs of tests” were done on ghost patients to help private labs in the city.
There are 526 such clinics that are known as Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics (AAMC) running in Delhi and the alleged scam has so far only been unearthed in 7 such AAMCs leading to speculations that similar corruption was taking place in hundreds of AAMCs.
It is pertinent to mention that the named accused in these cases are not related to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but government officials who were selected following the due process of recruitment.
Documents accessed by the Daily Guardian shows that the alleged scam start unravelling in August 2023 after it came to the notice of Department of Health and Family Welfare that some doctors and medical staff employed at Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic (AAMC) were resorting to unethical practices to mark their attendance fraudulently by using pre-recorded videos in the tablets provided to mark the attendance.
It was also uncovered that despite the doctors not being physically present in these clinics, medicines and lab tests were prescribed to patients by the support staff, who were neither authorised nor qualified to prescribe the medicines.
In September 2023, all these doctors and staff were de-empanelled and FIRs lodged against them.
In October 2023, as a part of a follow up on these unethical and illegal practices, it was further found that even when these doctors were not present in the clinics, patients were asked to go for lab tests through pre-recorded videos. In many such cases, a single mobile number, which is used to identify the patients, was used more than hundred times while keying in the details of those who were asked to go for these tests.
As per the official documents, perusal of just three months’ records from the 7 AAMCs where these doctors were employed, revealed astonishing details.
A mobile number- 9999999999 was used 3092 times to register thousands of patients.
An astonishing 85616 tests were ordered from Metropolis lab by these errant doctors between July to September 2023 which means- 28538 tests per month or roughly 951 tests per day.
In the case of Agilus lab for the same period, 5,21,221 tests were ordered, which comes to 1,73,740 tests per month or 5791 tests per day.
This comes to 6,06,837 lab tests ordered and done in 90 days or 6,742 daily or 1,123 tests every hour as the mohalla clinics are open for 6 hours round the month.
More than 2,0000 such tests were done (at least on papers) where the mobile number of the patient was either blank or zero.
Officials claimed that this indicates that there was some institutional arrangement between these two private labs and relevant officials in the Delhi government. The doctors and medical staff against whom the FIR was filed in the case are Shweta Dhawan, Shalini Jha, Shahdara and Ritu. All were working at AAMC, Bihari colony, Shahdara.
Another lot deployed at AAMC, Jagjeet Nagar against whom action has been taken are- Sachin Kumar, Pankaj Shukla, Anita Kumari and Ashwani Kumar. Similarly FIR against Ankit Kachhap, Sonu, Sarita and Khusboo who were working with AAMC Jaffarkalan have been lodged.
Manish Verma, Gautam Kumar, Dinesh, Manjeet Singh, all employed at AAMC Ujwa too have been booked. Nitin K Lall, Sandeep Shokeen, Jyoti and Madan Kumar, employed at AAMC Shikarpur too have been booked. FIR against Priya Siwach, Aniket Gulia, Renu Yadav and Suman Pandey, empanelled at AAMC Main Gopal Nagar has been lodged in the case. Similarly, Renu Tokas and Ranbir, employed at AAMC Dhansa, have been booked.
It is pertinent to mention that the Delhi Government has outsourced the lab investigation services in these AAMCs to M/s Agilus Diagnostics Ltd and M/s Metropolis Health Care Ltd. Anand K is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Agilus while Ms. Ameera Shah is the Promoter & Managing Director of Metropolis Healthcare Ltd.
Reacting to these developments, Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that they had received a complaint regarding this on September 20, following which services of 26 medical staff were terminated with a warning of strict action.
“There were complaints about some doctors either entering late or leaving early. The attendance system in mohalla clinics were good. A video was shot of the staff entering and exiting, and one had to blink his/her eyes into the camera to register attendance. However, some mischievous doctors found a way around it. They got their videos recorded, and investigated the matter. After this 26 people were thrown out,” Bharadwaj elaborated.
He added that the Directorate General of Health Services and the health secretary should conduct random checks as the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has not appointed the staff. “We have not appointed people in DGHS nor we have appointed the Health Secretary.
All these doctors have been appointed through the DGHS. And these doctors are doing illegal acts, so in a way the DGHS and Health secretary are probing themselves” the state health minister said.
