Irregularities reported in health scheme for ex-servicemen

The Centre has incurred losses of at least Rs 100 crore in the last three years mainly because of inflated and fake bills produced by empanelled private hospitals, said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in an audit report on the implementation of ex-servicemen contributory health scheme (ECHS).

CAG officials said this could be the tip of the iceberg. The report was based on the results of checks undertaken during 2012-13 to 2014-15, they said.

The ECHS, similar to the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), was launched for the benefit of ex-servicemen and their dependents on April 1, 2003.

The CAG, which audited the scheme for the first time, found that a number of health cards issued to beneficiaries were more than the number of ex-servicemen registered with the office of the managing director, ECHS. These cards were in excess to 7,431. "This not only poses a threat of misuse of the card, but also extra payment to the card manufacturing company, Score Information Technologies," the report noted.

It further said empanelled hospitals were paid additional Rs 23.61 crore for more than 5,000 bills. "We found that 145 bills were paid twice," Deputy CAG Suman Saxena told reporters in a press conference. "Despite several requests, the relevant records were not produced for audit. Audit searched their records and obtained copies of a few bills in which double payments were made. This even the principal controller of defence accounts (PCDA) failed to detect."

The CAG said all these irregularities took place due to inadequate audit by PCDA. The audit report said the ECHS approved 1,088 claims, despite having been rejected by a third party appointed by it to review such claims. The rejected claims were to the tune of Rs 1.16 core.