Kurnool hospital scam probe seen a futile bid

KURNOOL: The vigilance and enforcement department was assigned the task of probing the Rs 300 crore Arogyasri scam at the Kurnool General Hospital spread over 10 years. A three member committee was formed by district collector S. Satyanarayana  with joint collector and district medical and health officer  as members. However there were apprehensions over inclusion of joint collector in the probe team as his close relative was said to have been accommodated in the Kurnool Medial College in a position of profit. An earlier report submitted by joint collector Rama Swamy barely three months earlier did not bring any substantial reforms, said a professor.

The modus operandi of the Rs 300 crore scam was doctors at the cardiology department referring patients to private corporate hospitals under the guise performing critical operation which requires great care and hygiene. Depending on the patient and his capacity to mobilize resources, the Cardiology department doctors used to advice patients to go to Corporate Hospitals. Since they too get the coverage of Arogyasri at private Corporate Hospitals, hundreds of patients every year were diverted, said the professor.

Kurnool General Hospital which has the state-of -the art cardiology and cardio thoracic centre was rendered dysfunctional in some specialisations. As patients for the said services were not coming to the hospital where was the need to use the equipment costing Rs 8 crore, lamented a doctor. The vigilance officer said that they have started collecting information and the culprit would be booked. Hospital superindent Dr P. Chandrasekhar, a senior professor of cardiology, said that a team will arrive on Friday to assess the situation.