SIFO probes Mumbai's pathlabs

The Corporate Affairs Ministry has begun a probe into an alleged scam involving major diagnostic laboratories and some leading doctors from top hospitals in Mumbai.
"We recently issued directions to our investigation wing (Serious Fraud Investigation Office) to probe the alleged kickbacks being paid to doctors by some diagnostic labs," a senior ministry official told PTI here.
Sources in the ministry said they started probing the alleged kickback involving three Mumbai labs.
"Notice has been issued to them asking them to give their books of accounts and other documents," said the ministry official. Notice will also be sent to a hospital, the official said.

The amount of kickbacks that these three labs collected could be about Rs 15 crore, sources said.
"Though initially we are probing these three labs, we will bring under the ambit of our probe more labs as there are allegations of similar cheating happening in their cases as well," the official said, adding if any kickback is established then even some prominent doctors from leading city hospitals will be examined by SFIO.

"We have asked SFIO to complete their preliminary probe in six months," said the official.
Explaining the modus operandi, the official said the referring doctors advise full lab tests to their patients even if there is no suspicion of pathology.

Labs in turn conduct only a few tests but charge them for the full tests showing the results in the normal range for all tests which were not even performed.
But the patient is charged for the full tests, the proceeds from which is shared by the referring doctors and the pathologist and the labs, official said.
The domestic pathology testing market is estimated at Rs 40,000 crore and has huge potential to grow. The industry growth is driven by seasonal diseases and the growing elderly population who are becoming more active in managing their own health and wellness needs.

According to a UN report, the country is expected to have 177 million elderly people by 2025. In fact, in absolute numbers, this is second only to China.