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'DNA' special: Docs under probe, who will treat UP?

Health services to be hit as over 100 docs are under CBI scanner.

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Health services in Uttar Pradesh are likely to be severely hit with over a hundred senior doctors coming into the ambit of the CBI investigation into the state’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam worth Rs5,000 crore.

UP health department sources say about 125 ‘level 4’ doctors (i.e. joint director level) are under CBI scanner. The CBI has registered an FIR against 100 doctors alleging their active involvement in the scam. These doctors were posted as chief medical officers (CMOs) or chief medical superintendents (CMS) during the Mayawati regime.

UP health minister Ahmad Hasan has said these tainted officials would not be given any field posting. Thus there is bound to be a crisis in posting CMOs in the 75 districts and CMS in the 153 government hospitals. A senior health department official told this correspondent that there was already a dire shortage of ‘level 4’ doctors.

The CBI has said in its FIR that these doctors got postings after paying lakhs of rupees to two former ministers Babu Singh Kushwaha (family welfare minister) and Anant Kumar Mishra ‘Antu’ (health minister) through a chain of middlemen which mostly included suppliers of medicines and medical equipment.

“It was a very well-organised racket. The suppliers and contractors paid the ministers and their touts for the posting of their chosen CMOs,” a CBI official involved in the investigation told DNA adding these suppliers then made big profits by cornering huge contracts in the districts as and when they wanted.

The CBI has gathered sufficient evidence about these transcations. First, the tainted CMOs under the Health Department (from 2007 to 2009) and district plan officers (DPOs) under the family welfare department (after 2009) released payments in advance to suppliers violating all NRHM rules. It also records that in several districts, huge payments were released without even verifying the supplies.

The health department was bifurcated into – health and family welfare – in mid-2009. This was also in violation of the NRHM guidelines. Anant Mishra was made the health minister when the Mayawati took over in 2007. Babu Singh Kushwaha, known for his proximity with Mayawati, was made family welfare minister. The entire NRHM funding was given to this department. Kushwaha started posting DPOs in the same way as CMOs were posted earlier. The CBI has discovered that Rs15 to 20 lakh was paid for each posting.

The CBI is now preparing to question these doctors. The CBI, which is investigating into the NRHM scam on the orders of the Allahabad High Court, has been given time till August 23 to file its report.

 

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