Bihar is in news nowadays as another ‘Scam’ has come into notice. Lure of insurance money has prompted many private hospitals of Bihar to indulge in a unique type of illegal business in the name of uterus surgery. Over 15,000 women of the state, many of them even unmarried girls under 22, have undergone hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) in the past one year. Most of the operations are suspected to have been performed by private hospitals trying to gobble up the insurance amount of Rs 30,000. It is learnt that the private hospitals have claimed up to Rs 12 crores under the scheme in the last one year. It is also reported that many of the private hospitals have claimed insurance money without performing any operations at all.
In 2008 the Centre launched the insurance scheme for the women belonging to BPL families suffering from infection in the name of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY). Under the scheme, the beneficiary has to pay a registration fee of Rs 30/-, with the Centre and the state government paying the premium. Under the scheme, the beneficiary will be covered for Rs 30,000/- and could take medical treatment in the approved hospitals under the scheme.
The preliminary enquiries have shown that Samastipur district in the state, has performed highest number of hysterectomy surgeries on women in the last one year. Madhubani too witnessed many such cases. The Samastipur district magistrate Kundan Kumar has ordered a probe into it. Six teams have been constituted and the team will submit their report within July 31.
District administration sources said one hospital in Samastipur had claimed Rs 1.28 crore while another Rs 97.18 lakh for performing the operations. Even the nursing homes located in block and sub-divisional towns had claimed hefty amounts against the operations. For example, a nursing home located in Shahpur Patori block in the district had furnished bills worth Rs 55.42 lakh while another at Dalsingsarai had sought Rs 32.24 lakh.
A team of district officials, which visited the nursing homes last week, found that some of them did not even have adequate facilities for performing surgeries. Principle secretary of the state labour resources, Amrit Lal Meena, said nursing homes found guilty would be deleted from the approved list soon. He said his department had sent its teams to Samastipur and Madhubani districts.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered the district magistrates and civil surgeons to inspect all eligible private nursing homes to investigate the scam and ensure whether they are equipped to provide proper healthcare to the poor.
Source of News: Bihar Times / www.bihartimes.com
