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AACs in Patiala inflating patient entries, finds health dept survey
Patiala civil surgeon says action is being taken and concerned senior medical officers have been asked to look into the matter
A survey by the Punjab health department has found that some Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) in the Patiala district are ‘inflating’ patients’ entries for enhanced emoluments.
The data of the patient feedback survey of Patiala revealed that the AAC staff made entries of patients who had not visited the clinic during the 15 preceding days from their entries in the records.
As per the feedback details, the health department made random calls to nearly 2,113 patients of 18 AACs – out of the total 72 AACs in the district.
The feedback report, a copy of which is with HT, revealed that on average 9% of the total respondents had not visited the AAC. In some AACs, this percentage was as high as 16%. All the 18 AACs in Patiala reported discrepancies in patient records and out of 18, seven AACs had 10 % or more discrepancy.
In Jogipur AAC, the discrepancy was as high as 16% while AAC, city branch, and AAC, Gaju Majra, reported a 13% discrepancy in the patient’s record.
Notably, the contractual doctors at ACC, as per the stipulated provision, get ₹50 per patient in addition to their assured monthly base salary of ₹62, 500. Similarly, pharmacists and clinical assistants, who are posted at AAC along with doctors, also get some amount along with their regular salaries.
Earlier this year, the Patiala health department had to pay ₹1.92 lakh to an AAC doctor in a month, implying that the concerned doctor attended as many as 154 patients during six hours of duty from 8 am to 2 pm.
Patiala health department has already sought explanations from the centres over the discrepancies.
Patiala civil surgeon Dr Jatinder Kansal said: “We are taking action. We have already asked the concerned senior medical officers (SMOs) to look into the matter. Fake entries won’t be tolerated at any cost.” The feedback survey also revealed that 14 % of the respondents claimed that they did not receive all the medicines or no medicines at all at the AACs.
