Cobrapost unearths a thriving racket in which all major private hospitals hand out handsome commission to doctors and smaller hospitals for referrals, at the expense of patients
New Delhi: In a long investigation Operation White Coat spanning three mega-cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore and covering 20 major private multi-specialty hospitals, Cobrapost has unearthed a racket of referrals in which these hospitals offer commission ranging between 10 and 30 per cent to doctors and smaller hospitals or nursing homes. Undertaken by Cobrapost Special Correspondent Umesh Patil, the investigation exposes almost all marquee names among private health care providers, namely, Fortis Hospital (with a branch each in Mumbai and Bangalore), JP Hospital, Metro Hospital in Noida; Yashoda Hospital and Columbia Asia Hospital (with a branch in Bangalore) in Ghaziabad; MAX Hospitals (in Saket and Patparganj), Apollo Hospital (with a branch in Bangalore), BLK Super Speciality Hospital, all in Delhi; Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital, Hiranandani Hospital, Asian Heart Institute, Seven Hills Hospital and Jaslok Hospital, all in Mumbai; and Narayana Hrudayalaya College of Nursing and Mallya Hospital both in Bangalore.
In the course of this undercover investigation, Cobrapost Special Correspondent interviewed marketing officials, not less than the rank of assistant managers, of these hospitals who without exception candidly admitted on camera to offering handsome rewards to doctors, and smaller hospitals, who send their patients to these super-specialty hospitals for serious ailments.
These confessions can be summed as follows:
* To make more business out of patients’ miseries, all these hospitals offer handsome commissions to individual doctors, nursing homes and smaller hospitals, which cannot handle serious ailments, on all referrals.
* Each hospital has an elaborate process for such referrals and pay-offs thereof.
* Commissions to individual doctors are paid out to them as consultation fee.
* In addition to regular cuts, some of these hospitals give such doctors expensive gifts.
* All these hospitals have a well-oiled network of doctors and small nursing homes and hospitals, to help them generate a steady business out of patients’ needs for specialized treatment.
* Well, they also know that this is a malpractice under the MCI guidelines, yet they do not blink an eye while indulging in it.
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