Govt to put in place more checks on hospitals as Ayushman frauds pile up

Since the launch of Ayushman Bharat — the flagship heath care programme of the Narendra Modi government — nine months back, most cases of fraud have been reported from Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. As a result, the government has tightened a number of rules to prevent these.

The first case was lodged in Nainital. Since then, government officials have lodged first information reports (FIRs) and slapped fines to the tune of Rs 1 crore on hospitals involved in frauds.

A senior government official explained how some of these hospitals use loopholes in protocols.

“Hospitals need to get pre-authorisation within six hours