The Delhi government’s Mohalla Clinics prescribed pathology tests for nearly 65,000 “ghost patients” from February to December last year, officials of the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) said on Saturday. The tests were conducted by two private labs.
According to an official, a preliminary inquiry by the ACB found that the two labs received ₹4.63 crore from the Delhi government for conducting medical tests during these 11 months, of which nearly 65,000 were allegedly fake.
The probe was initiated following a complaint by Special Secretary (Vigilance) Y.V.V.J. Rajasekhar on January 10.
Sources in the Delhi government said that any wrongdoing in the functioning of Mohalla Clinics will not be tolerated, and strong action will be taken against the guilty.
Last month, Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena had recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities in prescribing medical tests to ghost, or non-existent, patients at Mohalla Clinics.
The Mohalla Clinic is a pet project of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with over 500 of these located in the city where patients can avail of nearly 450 medical tests for free.
These tests cost between ₹100 and ₹300 and are done by private pathology labs, which are reimbursed by the AAP government.
An official said that according to the ACB probe report, after mobile numbers of patients registered with the two labs were verified at random, nearly 63% of the numbers were found to be either invalid or to belong to people who had never visited a Mohalla Clinic.
Invalid contact details
As per the report, analysis of one of the laboratory’s data showed that 12,457 tests were conducted where the patient’s mobile number was not entered; 25,732 tests where the mobile number was ‘zero’; 913 tests with fake mobile numbers; and 2,467 tests with mobile numbers that were repeated over 80 times for different patients.
“It also emerged that the Lab Management Information System (LMIS), containing the name and mobile number of the patients, was also developed, operated, and conveniently manipulated by the two private labs,” the official said.
“Two private vendors were found to have full access and control over data and the system’s software, which is why the possibility of manipulation of data could not be ruled out,” the official added.
