Madhya Pradesh National Health Mission (NHM) has halted the operations of 14-year-old Deendayal Mobile Hospital, introduced to provide quality health facilities in remote areas of the state, after it was found that fake patient bills were being generated, a state health department official said.
There are 144 Medical Mobile Units (MMU) under Deendayal Mobile Hospital in rural areas of the state to provide tertiary health care to remote areas where basic health facilities are not available.
In an order, NHM director Chhavi Bhardwaj said, “Ziqitza Health Care Limited had been give the responsibility of operating Deendayal Mobile Hospital’s vehicles equipped with all the necessary medical services to provide emergency treatment to people residing in remote areas. But the health department has been receiving complaints against the mobile hospitals for a long time.”
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“The company was asked to improve the facilities of the mobile hospitals several times but nothing happened. Now, serious irregularities have been found in the services. The state government has decided to stop the operations with immediate effect,” reads the order.
{{/usCountry}}“The company was asked to improve the facilities of the mobile hospitals several times but nothing happened. Now, serious irregularities have been found in the services. The state government has decided to stop the operations with immediate effect,” reads the order.
{{/usCountry}}According to an officer of the state health department, the mobile medical units were operating without doctors and staff nurses. Many hospitals were found unequipped with machines. During inspections, officers of the health department also found fake entries of villagers who never used the mobile hospital as patients.
“The health department officials have been inspecting the services of mobile hospitals in every district in the past six months and found grievous irregularities. The health department sent a show-cause notice to the company in the first week of December and asked them to reply within a week. The decision of halting the services was taken on Monday after the health department officials didn’t find the reply satisfactory,” said the officer, requesting anonymity.
Every month, National Health Mission paid Rs1.75 lakh for the operation of MMUs.
Ziqitza Health Care Limited project head Jitendra Sharma, “We have received the order. The management is looking into the matter. If the health department finds some irregularities, we will improve them.”
MP health department minister Prabhuram Chaudhary said, “The step was taken to improve the health facilities in MP. Now, mobile hospitals with better facilities will be introduced.”
The opposition attacked the BJP-led state government for failing to provide health facilities effectively. MP Congress Committee spokesperson JP Dhanopia said, “Instead of improving the facilities, the state government blamed the company and stopped an important facility. More than a company, the state government is responsible for irregularities due to a weak monitoring system.”