South Point Hospital, Odisha de-empanelled for BSKY Fraud

The Odisha government has taken strict actions against South Point Hospital in Cuttack for alleged BSKY scheme irregularities.

In a statement, Health and Family Welfare Department Secretary Shalini Pandit stated that the actions would take effect immediately.

The hospital was de-empanelled in the first phase. Swasthya Mitra, who was assigned to the hospital, has been deactivated, according to her.

The District Administration has been asked to transfer the patient undergoing BSKY treatment in the said hospital to an appropriate BSKY-empanelled private hospital or to Government facilities for continued uninterrupted treatment.

The State team has been directed to conduct additional investigations into the claims raised by the said hospital previously in relation to claims scrutinised by claim panel doctors of the state health assurance society. South Point Hospital is collecting intensive patient feedback via outbound calls to previous patients in order to check for past fraud.

Families with smart BSKY cards and those enrolled in Food Security Schemes are eligible for the healthcare scheme’s benefits.

Meanwhile, the state government has directed all collectors and district magistrates to take strict action if any fraud is discovered in the extension of healthcare benefits to the people.

Notably, the Cuttack Urban Police arrested five people on Tuesday, including the owner of a private hospital, on charges of embezzling BSKY card funds by taking gullible residents of the Bayalish Mouza area for a ride.

The accused, including the owner of the private hospital, were arrested for duping card holders into paying cash to renew their cards.

The five persons arrested include a 49-year-old resident of the 42 Mouza area who is the owner of the private hospital, ‘South Point’ at Arunodaya Nagar, a 27-year-old who is the hospital’s administrative officer, 49-year-old Umakanta Saseni of Bantunia who is the security manager, and 2 brokers Laxmidhar Lenka (52-year-old) of Kulasarichuan village and Trinath Behera (65-year-old) of Tailipada.

Krushna Chandra Bhoi, a ward member of Aranch village in the 42 Mouza region, filed a complaint on Monday, and a FIR was registered at the police station, after which the police conducted an investigation and arrested the five accused.

Bhoi claimed that two of the accused, Laxmidhar and Trinath, lured him to South Point Hospital by promising him Rs 2000 to renew his BSKY card. When the other three arrived, Binay, Subhranshu, and Umakanta used biometrics to take his fingerprint and swipe his BSKY card. They then created fake bills and deducted the available balance on his card.