Uttarakhand: Improper referral of patients to their private hospitals, probe initiates against two doctors

Haridwar: Two medical professionals associated with Government hospital are now under the scanner of the Uttarakhand Health Department as a probe has been initiated against them for improper referral of patients to their private hospitals.

According to a recent media report, the accused doctors allegedly referred few patients, availing treatment under Atal Ayushman Yojana, to their privately owned hospitals named Priya Hospital in Laksar and Ali clinic in Kashipur, empanelled under the said scheme for the treatment. The hospitals were later removed from the state-run medical scheme.

Medical dialogues team earlier reported that Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat launched the 'Atal Ayushman  Uttarakhand Yojana' on 25^th December last year, making the hill state first in the country to offer universal health coverage.

It was mentioned that under the scheme, each household in the state will be able to avail the medical treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh annually.

Read Also: CM Rawat launches Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana

The Health Department officials informed the TOI that the doctors instead of providing treatments at government hospitals referred them to their private hospitals. There were few regular patients who were unnecessarily being referred to emergency wards.

One of the senior doctors from health department told TOI, "We have come to know that some patients were referred to these private hospitals by the government doctors even though they could have been treated in the government hospital itself. Upon further inspection it was found that these doctors were working overtime in the same private hospitals to which the patients were being referred."

The State Health Department constituted a two-member committee to investigate the matter. The Committee was asked to provide its reports within 15 days.

Meanwhile, the Director General, Health Department, Dr Ravindra Thapliyal informed the daily, "It will be wrong to make any comment on this matter as it is still under investigation. Some issues have certainly come to fore but it is being ensured that genuine beneficiaries are not inconvenienced."