After the deaths of two patients at Ahmedabad’s Khyati Hospital, the Gujarat government has filed a police complaint against the hospital’s doctor and director and three others. Soon after, Dr Prashant Vazirani, who was accused of jeopardising the health of 19 patients, was arrested. Sanjay Patoliya, another doctor implicated in the scandal, is also facing charges and has links to hospitals in Rajkot and Surat, spreading the controversy throughout the state.
Notably, Khyati Hospital has been accused of abusing government health care programs like Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) by doing unnecessary angioplasty and stent treatments in healthy persons.
An investigation by experienced doctors indicated that patients who underwent angiography and angioplasty had no underlying health conditions and did not need the medical procedures.
The FIR was filed by Dr Prakash Mehta, the CDMO of Sola Civil Hospital. Mehta, a health commissioner-appointed inquiry committee member stated, “From our report, it appears that Dr Prashant Vazirani, along with Khyati Multispecialty Hospital’s director Dr Kartik Patel, Dr Sanjay Patoliya, Rajshri Kothari, Chirag Rajput, the CEO, and others involved, conspired with wrongful intent to misuse the govt’s PM-JAY scheme for illicit financial gain. They allegedly orchestrated a criminal scheme by presenting a false narrative of the patient’s actual physical conditions. They misled patients, persuading them to consent to stent placements and unnecessary angiography and angioplasty by having them sign consent forms under false pretences.”
“This malpractice has reportedly resulted in the deaths of two patients and caused bodily harm to others by conducting operations in a manner that could have led to further fatalities,” the FIR adds.
The hospital had organised a free health check-up camp to find ‘patients’, lied to healthy persons about ‘heart disease’
According to the FIRs filed in response to complaints from the deceased’s relatives, the hospital organised a free medical check-up camp on 10th November in Borisana village, Kadi taluka, Mehsana district. After the camp, the hospital admitted 19 villagers to its Ahmedabad facility on November 11, stating that they would need to undergo angiography. Following angiography, a procedure that uses X-ray imaging to evaluate blood arteries and determine whether they are restricted or obstructed, doctors performed angioplasty on seven of them and implanted stents on the same day.
Meanwhile, Zone-1 DCP Himanshu Kumar Verma said, “Hospital Chairman Kartik Jasu Patel, CEO Chirag Hirasingh Rajput, Director Rajshree Pradeep Kothari, and Bariatric Surgeon Dr Sanjay Mulji Patolia remained on the run from the police.”
It has been reported that the two complaints filed with Kadi police accused Khyati Hospital authorities of hosting a medical camp in Borisana and enticing the deceased and others to come to Ahmedabad for treatment. Both of them did not have a history of heart disease or other serious conditions. The accused were charged under the BNS Act for culpable homicide, attempted culpable homicide, forgery, fraud, and criminal conspiracy. Vastrapur police intend to file a new complaint against Khyati Hospital management for fraud and criminal conspiracy.
According to an Indian Express report, this was not the first camp set up by Khyati Hospital. They set up a camp nearly three months ago in Paldi Kankaj village, Daskroi taluka, Ahmedabad.
