Gujarat doctor arrested for death of PMJAY beneficiaries in ‘botched’ angioplasty

The city’s Vastrapur police registered the cases on Wednesday (November 13) night, while the main accused and cardiologist Dr Prashant Vazirani, who had carried out angioplasty on the victims at Khyati Multispeciality Hospital here, was arrested on Thursday morning, the official said.

1 arrested, 4 named in FIR

Two cases came on complaints by the kin of the deceased, while the third was registered after Chief District Medical Officer Dr Prakash Mehta approached the cops on behalf of the state government, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 1, Himanshu Verma told PTI.

Also read: How private hospitals in Gujarat are fiddling with lives to mint PMJAY benefits

“Besides Vazirani, who has been arrested, four others have been shown in these FIRs. Further investigation is on,” said Verma.

The other accused have been identified as Kartik Patel, chairman of the private hospital, CEO Chirag Rajput, and directors Rajshri Kothari and Dr Sanjay Patolia.

All the five accused have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.

‘Accused hatched conspiracy to misuse PMJAY funds’

According to the police, these accused “hatched a conspiracy to get undue financial benefit under the Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) which led to the death of two persons”.

The Gujarat government had announced on Wednesday that a police complaint would be filed against the hospital management over the death of the two persons who were enrolled under the central health scheme.

Unnecessary surgery

Nagarbhai Senma (59) and Mahesh Barot (45) were among seven persons on whom angioplasty with stent placement was performed at Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, situated in Ahmedabad's Bodakdev area, on Monday.

The duo, residents of Mehsana district, died at the hospital around 10 pm the same day. Angioplasty is a procedure that widens blocked or narrowed coronary arteries to improve blood flow to the heart.

Also read: Modicare mirage: PMJAY stricken by fraud, red tape, and unmet promises
As per the FIRs, angioplasty was performed and stents were placed in the arteries of these two persons despite the fact that there was no need for the surgical intervention.

Hospital lied about blockage in arteries: CDMO

Moreover, these patients were not given proper post-operative care and no cardiologist was present at the time of patients’ death, police said.

After going through the records, Dr Mehta, in his complaint, said that the hospital lied about the blockage in arteries to persuade the patients to undergo angioplasty and stent placement.

He added that the victims were operated upon and stents were placed just to exploit the PMJAY scheme as the government would pay the hospital for the surgeries it conducted on the scheme beneficiaries.

Kin say hospital conducted surgery in haste

The relatives of the deceased, in their complaint, alleged the hospital kept them in the dark and conducted the heart procedure in haste to take undue benefit of the government scheme.

The Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY provides free health insurance of up to Rs 5 lakh per year to needy people.

Free medical camp

As per the FIRs registered on the complaints of the kin the deceased, the hospital had arranged a free medical check-up camp at Borisana village under Kadi taluka of Mehsana district on November 10.

Following the camp, the hospital brought 19 villagers to its facility in Ahmedabad on November 11, saying they would have to undergo angiography, Patel said.

After angiography, a process which involves the use of X-ray imaging to examine blood vessels and see if they are narrowed or blocked, doctors performed angioplasty on seven of them and also put stents on the same day.

(With inputs from agencies)