Administrative panel to probe Health Card ‘scam’

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 17 : Chief Minister Y Khemchand has vowed that all the wrongdoers involved in looting public money out of Chief Ministergi Hakshelgi Tengbang (CMHT) and PMJAY (Ayushman Bharat) will be awarded befitting punishment after a thorough enquiry by an administrative committee.  
Notably, Congress MLA K Ranjit raised a cut motion in the State Assembly on Monday highlighting systematic overcharging and fraudulent billing by empanelled hospitals and a third- party administrator against CMHT and PMJAY card holders.
Ranjit and Khemchand held a one-to-one meeting on the issue at the CM Secretariat this morning.
While discussing Manipur Appropriation (No 2) Bill in the State Assembly today, Ranjit expressed his preference for a House Committee to investigate the health card scam.
Nonetheless, he also asked about the Chief Minister’s opinion on the matter.
Replying to the Congress MLA, Khemchand said that the issue of a private hospital charging a patient far above the agreed package of Rs 14,000 and forcing a patient to buy 215 syringes at Rs 16,000 within a period of 10 days has been noted.
The Chief Minister stated that several cases of irregularities regarding CMHT and PMJAY have been detected.
Nonetheless, more than seven lakh people availed the benefits of CMHT and PMJAY during the past few years, he said.
There have been cases of hospitals being removed from the empanelled list because of the hospitals violating the terms of agreement signed with the Govt in some other States, the Chief Minister said.
A fraud detection team of the Health Department has been monitoring the mechanism of undergoing treatment with the help of Health Cards and there have been 110 cases of rejection on account of incompatibility between the actual costs of treatment and the amounts submitted     for reimbursement, he said.
The Chief Minister assured the House that an administrative committee will be formed to investigate the irregularities and looting of huge amounts out of CMHT and PMJAY.
K Ranjit then urged the Chief Minister to form the administrative committee and let the committee complete its investigation within two months.
He also sought permission of the leader of the House to let the Assembly Speaker constitute a House Committee comprising both ruling and Opposition Members in case the investigation by the administrative committee is not found satisfactory.
Khemchand said that the investigation may be completed not in two months, but in one month. He also asked K Ranjit to furnish a list of irregularities regarding Health Cards with authentic documents.
Whether the administrative committee’s investi- gation is satisfactory or not will be known only after it submits its report, he said.
K Ranjit said that he will submit all the details of the cases of irregularities he pointed out to the Chief Minister through the Speaker within a week.
As the Opposition Member insisted on forming a House Committee, the Chief Minister assured he will see that the issue is addressed satisfactorily without going to the length of forming a House Committee.
Khemchand further assured that he would ask the Chief Secretary to call all the empanelled hospitals within a week and instruct to strictly abide by the guidelines laid down by the Government regarding CMHT and PMJAY.
Ranjit urged the Chief Minister to see that all empanelled hospitals display the list of medical treatments covered by CMHT and PMJAY, and also the amounts assured by these schemes against each specific medical treatment.
Khemchand replied that he will look into the matter and see that the empanelled hospitals display all these details.