9 booked for Rs 1.6 crore medical scam at ESIS hospital in Mulund

MUMBAI: In a huge medical scam unearthed in the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) Hospital, Mulund (W), nine pharmacists altered or manipulated prescriptions to earn profits, police said on Monday. Prescriptions mainly included drugs to treat diabetes and thyroid imbalances.

The scam came to light after an internal audit showed the discrepancy, which resulted in a loss of Rs 1.6 crore. ESIS hospitals are public hospitals set up under the central labour ministry; each worker contributes to this health insurance scheme to avail of healthcare.

Based on the hospital’s internal audit, Mulund police on Saturday registered an offence of cheating, forgery, breach of trust and criminal intimidation against Srihari Dontulla, Rajkumar Shakyawar, Gunderao Vadse, Rajendra Ghore, Narayan Yemulla, S B Kashetty, Janardhan Rapalli, Rajesham Boga and Vilas Chourgade. Sources said eight of them have retired.

Hospital administrator Ganesh Jadhav lodged a complaint on the hospital’s behalf.

Police said the accused were manipulating the hospital’s records since 2011. “The nine connived with each other and inflated prescriptions of medicines and caused a huge loss of Rs 1.6 crore over seven years,” said an official.

Boga filed a case for retirement benefits before Maharashtra Administration Tribunal (MAT) and during scrutiny it transpired that he and the others had manipulated records. Sources said the hospital set up an inquiry board to look into the malpractice. “The board prima facie found that the all accused had inflated the quantity of medicines in their register and sold the rest of medicines outside the hospital,” said a police official.

The sources said some medicines, whose records were altered or manipulated, were anti-diabetic medicines and anti-thyroid pills.

The board said the medical officer is the final signing authority but in many cases, the signature was missing.