AHMEDABAD: More skeletons are tumbling out of Khyati Hospital’s cupboard for endangering the lives of people for unlawful gains under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PM-JAY). Investigators have found that the Ahmedabad hospital performed angioplasty on an 18-year-old after primary check-up at a medical camp, pointing towards the possibility that more young people could have been operated upon for illicit monetary gains.
Police have also come across four more deaths, suspected to be caused by unnecessary angioplasties at the hospital, taking the toll to nine. The details of these cases are being verified by investigators. “We have learned that the accused performed angioplasty on very young patients, including an 18-year-old. We are yet to receive documents from PM-JAY officers under which the medical procedure was conducted. We will be able to identify all the patients once we have the documents,” a senior crime branch officer said, adding that these patients were taken for angioplasty after holding camps in their respective villages — a modus operandi the hospital administration used in all cases that have come to light so far.
Investigations into the Nov 11 angioplasty deaths of two patients from Mehsana’s Borisana village — Mahesh Barot (52) and Nagar Senma (72) — led cops to three more such cases at the hospital over the past 18 months, bringing the racket to light.
All three deceased patients were from Kadi and had been told about blockages in arteries at health camps. It was alleged in the FIR that none of them required angioplasty. On Monday, Ahmedabad crime branch nabbed five accused from a farm near Kapadvanj in Kheda district. Among them was Chirag Rajput, the hospital’s director (marketing and branding) and the alleged mastermind behind the illicit profiteering from PM-JAY and other govt schemes.
The other three were CEO Rahul Jain; Milind Patel, whose job was to organise camps and meet general physicians in the vicinity of Ahmedabad and nearby districts to send patients to Khyati Hospital; and Pankil Patel and Pratik Bhatt, who would hold camps and persuade people for medical procedures.
A local court on Wednesday remanded them in police custody for three days. On Nov 13, three FIRs were filed against Khyati Hospital’s founder Kartik Patel, director Dr Sanjay Patolia, cardiologist Dr Prashant Vajirani, Rajshree Kothari and Rajput. They have been charged with hatching a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently siphon off funds from PM-JAY and culpable homicide.
