In its inquiry report flagging alleged irregularities at Delhi’s mohalla clinics, the Vigilance Department has found that loopholes in the system — such as patient registration — were flagged by both the L-G and the Delhi health minister but were ignored.
In 2017, the Vigilance Department received complaints that doctors working at a mohalla clinic were treating 533 patients a day in just four hours. To maintain transparency and curb corruption, the state health department distributed tablets to doctors and staff at clinics in 2022.
Under this, patients were to show an ID proof and register with their mobile number. Following this, an assistant clicks their photo on the tablet.
However, new allegations in the vigilance report indicated that the system was not enough. The report has pointed to an alleged scam involving fake mobile numbers and ghost patients.
As per the report, while the total number of mohalla clinics increased from 450 to 519 in 2022, the total number of patients in its OPDs substantially came down — from 3,416 per month per clinic in 2021 to 1,824 patients in 2022.
Further, the total number of diagnostic tests reported to have been conducted by an outsourced agency increased disproportionately — 6,30,978 tests a month in 2021 to 9,30,000 tests a month in 2022.“This aspect requires to be examined to rule out any malpractices,” the report said.
Before the enquiry, the L-G last year had asked the health department to ensure a system of online registration of patients as well as Aadhaar-based/ biometric tracking of patients be set up within three months. However, no action was taken by the state health department.
The vigilance department, in its report, asked the Health and Family Welfare department to submit a report on why it did not pay heed to the L-G’s directions for almost nine months.
Similar instructions had come from Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj in a meeting with officials last April when he had asked the health secretary to form a flying squad or an inspection team in each district. This team was to make physical inspections at each clinic and check if OPD consultation exceeds more than 125 a day. In case numbers were found to have been deliberately exaggerated, the empanelled doctor concerned was to be removed. An action-taken report was supposed to be filed in May. However, no action was taken.
Meanwhile, while assigning the contract to two new diagnostic labs last January, the L-G had asked for an impact-assessment report on the working of the private labs from the health department. No such report was filed.