‘Fake’ entries: Audit Aam Aadmi Clinics with patient footfall higher than 100 per day, says Patiala health dept
Doctors accused of registering ‘fake’ patients to get incentives; sources in the health department said three Patiala AACs — Satya Enclave, Tafazalpur and Language Department (Bhasha Vibhag) — are under scanner
Following a report of alleged fake entries at the Aam Aadmi Clinics (AAC), the Patiala health department on Monday ordered an audit of all AACs in the district where patient footfall had been above 100 per day.
The audit orders come after it was reportedly found that some doctors posted at the AACs were allegedly fetching unusually high salaries cuing alleged fake entries.
Contractual doctors at the ACCs — from a provision in place — can increase their total emoluments by getting ₹50 per patient, in addition to the assured monthly base salary of ₹62,500.
In the order issued by the Patiala health department, a copy of which is with HT, senior medical officers (SMOs) have been asked to form teams and conduct an audit of the AACs falling under their respective blocks. An SMO is in-charge of each health block.
In one such case of higher salary, the department had to pay ₹1.92 lakh to a doctor. It has come to the fore that the centre recorded 3,800 OPD patient count in a month (excluding Sundays when AACs are shut).
Given the recorded patient-footfall, on average, a single doctor attended 154 patients during the six-hour duty.
Sources in the health department said three Patiala AACs — Satya Enclave, Tafazalpur and Language Department (Bhasha Vibhag) — are under scanner. A separate team of health officials, therefore, has been formed to especially audit these three AACs.
It was reportedly found that clinical assistants, who register patients on the online portal, used to mark the entry of every person whosoever visited the clinic, irrespective of the purpose. In some cases, even the patient who came to enquire about the blood test report, were marked as fresh entry in the record, thereby assuring ₹50 for the doctor, ₹12 for the pharmacist and ₹11 for the assistant himself.
Another modus operandi to inflate the OPD count by the doctor was found to be doctors deliberately prescribing medicines for a shorter period so that they make a visit soon.
Punjab health department director Dr Adarshpal Kaur said, “We have been receiving complaints of alleged fake entries at some AACs in the state. Action has already been taken in some cases. Whenever the patient footfall crosses over 100 per day, we ask our team to check the records.”
Meanwhile, Punjab Civil Medical Service Association (PCMSA) president Dr Akhil Sarin said, “The unusually high remunerations have already cued to the fake entries. All this is happening apparently owing to the contractual nature of the job. The PCMSA insists that the recruitments at AACs should be brought in sync with the current government’s clear stand of doing away with the contractual mode of hiring.”
