Fake Bills, Bogus Cardiologist: Meditirina Hospital under ACB lens

Faridabad: A Kerala-based Meditirina Hospital Pvt Ltd has come under scrutiny after serious healthcare scandal emerged from two of its centre - the heart centre at the Badshah Khan Civil Hospital in Faridabad, where the controversial doctor pretending to be cardiologist Dr Pankaj Mohan treated and performed surgeries on patients for months with reused surgical equipment, and another centre in Hisar which overcharged the poor patients by creating fake bills.

Interestingly, the same company had another centre at Maharaja Agrasen Medical College in Hisar, which was blacklisted by the government in 2022 for creating fake bills. However, despite this past wrongdoing, the company was still allowed to continue running other hospitals in Haryana under the public-private-partnership (PPP) model.

In short, it means that even though the company had a history of fraud, it faced no consequences when it came to getting more government hospital contracts.

Also read- Faridabad MBBS doctor who posed as DNB Cardiologist booked

The heart centre, run by Kerala-based Meditirina Hospital Pvt Ltd under a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Haryana government, was abruptly shut down in February 2025 after the government halted its payments to the centre in December 2024.

Investigations by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) are currently underway following two FIRs registered in October 2024 and June 2025, revealing shocking details of medical malpractice and fraud at these two centres.

Medical Dialogues had previously reported that a doctor with only an MBBS degree and no specialised qualification or training in cardiology, shockingly managed to perform over 50 heart surgeries in just eight months at the Heart Care Centre of the District Civil Hospital, Badshah Khan, by impersonating renowned city cardiologist Dr. Pankaj Mohan. The fraud went undetected for months until one day, patients facing complications from surgery visited the real doctor in search of him and discovered the true identity of the accused.

The accused doctor, identified as Pankaj Mohan Sharma, is an MBBS Doctor. Since both doctors share similar names, the accused stole the identity and even the registration number of the real cardiologist and performed surgeries, putting the patient's life at serious risk. Among those he operated on, several patients’ health worsened after treatment, and some even tragically died.

The fraud came to light when one of the patients, whose condition worsened after a heart procedure at the hospital, visited the cardiologist, only to find out that he had never treated anyone at the civil hospital.

Taking advantage of sharing the same name, Dr. Pankaj Mohan Sharma used the registration number of a cardiologist, Dr Pankaj Mohan, to secure a position at the heart centre. Dr Sharma even used prescriptions that had a stamp that identified him as a ‘cardiologist’, with a DNB (cardiology) degree.

According to probe findings, Dr Sharma served at the centre from July 2024 to February 2025. During the period, several patients suffered complications following the surgery that he had performed, while some had died.

While the fraudulent activities of the doctor were exposed in June, the centre's alleged medical malpractice and fraud have now come to light.

It has been reported that the centre used equipment such as catheters, needles, wires, and balloons, which were reused across patients, violating medical safety guidelines. Further, the hospital allegedly issued fake and inflated bills, even for patients covered under Ayushman Bharat and below poverty line (BPL) categories. Most importantly, the hospital does not have a separate cardiology department.

The first FIR, registered on October 29, 2024, includes charges under sections 120B criminal conspiracy,420 (cheating), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 203 (giving false information) and 467, 468 and 471 (forgery) of IPC. The second FIR, registered on June 10, 2025, specifically names Dr Sharma and four officials from Meditirina, including its chief managing director, Dr N Pratap Kumar.

Medical Dialogues had reported that Dr Sharma was booked by the police in a case of fraud and criminal conspiracy after he was caught allegedly performing 50 heart surgeries over 8 months at the Heart Care Centre of the District Civil Hospital, Badshah Khan. Along with him, five others associated with the hospital were also booked in the case. They were identified as Dr. N Pratap Kumar, Chief Medical Director of Mediterina Hospital; Dalip Nayyar, head of corporate HR at the facility; Ajay Sharma, head of the Haryana centre; Piyush Srivastava, financial manager; and Mandip, centre head.

Sanjay Gupta, a lawyer and the whistleblower of the case, filed both the complaint, saying he was forced to go to the police after repeated complaints to hospital officials and the health department were ignored.

Meditirina signed a contract with the state government to run the heart centre in Faridabad in 2018. Meditirina also runs centres at Panchkula, Gurgaon and Ambala Cantt in Haryana, at Kollam, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and at Jamshedpur and Chas-Bokaro in Jharkhand.

Doctors at BK Civil Hospital's other departments said Meditirina staffers took all patients' medical records, leaving them with no way to continue treatments for regulars at the heart centre.

Gupta told TOI he had to approach the police because multiple complaints to the hospital management, the district's chief medical officer, and the health department did not elicit a response. He said it was in June 2024 that some patients' families and a former centre head hired by Meditirina reached out to him for help. The FIR lists the names of 39 patients who were allegedly treated with the re-used devices.

"According to guidelines of Medical Council of India and the World Health Organisation, reused wires, balloons and other equipment should not be used in the treatment of cardiac patients. Doing so poses a serious risk to the patient's life," the FIR reads.

The complaint also alleged that Meditirina overcharged patients, issuing bills that exceeded government-approved rates. Inflated reimbursement claims were also allegedly made in cases of patients who were covered under Ayushman Bharat or other schemes. Seven patients — four from the below-poverty line (BPL) category and three Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries — were named in the FIR, with their bills totalling almost Rs 14 lakh.

Mansingh Bhati, who was the centre head at the facility from 2018 to 2021, said he quit the job because of pressure to force doctors into reusing equipment and raising bill amounts.

"Usually, the centre heads were forced to do all the dirty work. We were told to raise fake bills and bills for patients who were exempted. We were also told to use the same equipment again and again on multiple patients," he said.

"ACB started investigating the case. As a result, govt halted its payments to the centre in Dec, and in Feb, the company abandoned the centre," Gupta added.

Ram Krishan, who was among those to reach out to Gupta, told TOI his father was 76 years old and had to get a stent in January 2025. The surgery, he added, was done by Dr Sharma.

"The procedure went wrong. The stent was inserted at 12 pm on Jan 11, and he passed away as there were issues during the procedure. I didn't know at the time that the doctor was unqualified," Krishan said.

Asked about the cases, Haryana director general of health services Manish Bansal told TOI the department is looking into each issue separately.

"We are trying to resolve the matter. We are also in talks with the (Meditirina) management to restart the centre, keeping in mind the patients. There are various issues that need to be handled carefully in the case before we go any further," Bansal said.

Faridabad's chief medical officer, Dr Jayant Ahuja, said, "ACB is probing the malpractice case. The partner hospital walked out. An ACB investigation is currently underway. I can't comment on the matter as I don't have any records."

Also read- MBBS Doctor Poses as DNB Cardiologist, Performs over 50 Heart Surgeries in Faridabad