Insurance claim scam: 16 cancer patients were treated in PGIMS

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, April 29

The Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here has confirmed that 16 out of 54 cancer patients, whose death was “proved” to be caused by accidents to claim insurance money, were treated in its radiation oncology department between May 2015 and May 2018.

Sources say the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the fake insurance claim racket, had recently sent a list of 54 patients to the PGIMS to get their medical record.

Of the 54 patients, three were brought to the PGIMS brought dead, the hospital authorities have confirmed. Their postmortem examination was conducted in the PGIMS, but the cause of death is a matter of investigation.

“There is a high possibility that more cancer patients, whose death was ‘proved’ to be caused by accidents, were treated in the PGIMS. The hospital authorities are finding it difficult to trace the medical record of other patients due to the incomplete details provided by the SIT. The details such as the CR number, and the date of admission and discharge are required to find out the medical record of any patient,” the sources said.

Rohtas Yadav, Director, PGIMS, said the SIT had been provided with the medical record of 19 patients, while details of the rest of the patients had been sought to trace their medical record.

Head constable arrested

Gurugram: A head constable of the Kundali police station in Sonepat has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the health insurance scam. The accused was involved in registering fake accidental death reports of cancer patients and issuing no-objection certificates to get insurance claims. The accused, identified as Ashok Kumar, has been taken on a three-day remand. The police say he could be a major lead in finding out whether other cops were involved in the scam. “There is a pattern in the registration of accident FIRs. Many of these were registered at police stations where the accused was posted. Such stations are on our radar,” said Shamsher Singh, DSP, crime branch. TNS