Chhattisgarh tops list with 6,785 fraudulent cases, Punjab 5,487, Jharkhand 2,783
Around 23,000 fraudulent transactions were recorded at empanelled hospitals under the Modi Government’s ambitious flagship Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) across the country during the fiscal year 2021-22.
Chhattisgarh topped the list of fraudulent transactions reporting 6,785 confirmed cases followed by Punjab with 5,487 and Jharkhand with 2,783. Comparatively, Tripura and Union Territory Puducherry recorded the lowest cases with one each. The Northeast States like Mizoram and Assam reported two cases each.
According to the data available from the Union Health Ministry, a total 22, 874 fraudulent transactions were recorded at empanelled healthcare providers as of January 31, 2022.
The other States which recorded cases of fraudulent transactions were Bihar (50 cases), Gujarat (16), Haryana (1,403), Himachal Pradesh (22), Jammu & Kashmir (1,011), Kerala (904), Madhya Pradesh (2,627), Meghalaya (96), Mizoram (2), Nagaland (38), Uttarakhand (128) and Uttar Pradesh (1,518).
The private hospitals under AB-PMJAY are empanelled by States/UTs based on well-defined criteria laid down by National Health Authority (NHA), including minimum in-patient bed strength and specialty-wise infrastructure facilities like equipment and the average bed strength of hospitals empanelled under the scheme is 45.
As of January 28, 2022, about 8.5 lakh hospital admissions were authorised for the treatment of Covid-19 under the scheme. A senior official from the Ministry said that during 2021, at least 3,27,104 patients were treated at various empanelled hospitals in 2020-21. The number of patients increased to 5,20,368 in 2021-22 during the Covid-19 times.
Through the AB-PMJAY, cashless health services are being provided to a large section of the population in selected Government and private hospitals, said the official.
The scheme was kicked off by the Central Government in 2018 with an aim to provide free health services to economically weaker sections of the country. It provides health insurance cover of `5 lakh per family per year to all the residents at empanelled hospitals. The scheme covers up to three days of pre-hospitalisation and fifteen days post-hospitalization expenses, including diagnostics and medicines.