FIR against 4 Andhra hospitals for irregularities in COVID treatment

An FIR was filed against four private hospitals in Andhra Pradesh on Friday after the Flying squads of the state Vigilance and Enforcement Department found irregularities and malpractices on their part in providing COVID treatment.

"The flying squads have continued inspections of hospitals on Friday. The teams have inspected 15 hospitals so far and found irregularities in four hospitals and booked criminal cases against the management of all the hospitals involved," Director General, Andhra Pradesh Vigilance and Enforcement Department KV Rajendranath Reddy said.

Hospitals started admitting patients on the condition that no bills would be given to them. This is apart from the irregularities of excessive charging and misappropriation of Remdesivir vials, he added.

"Narayana Hospital, Guntur was charging exorbitant prices beyond prescribed rates and no bills were given for payment made. Sai Rathna Hospital in Anantapur and Jangareddygudem hospital in West Godavari district were also charging excessively, discouraging admission of patients under the ArogyaSri welfare scheme, and misappropriation of Remdesivir. Kumar Hospitals, Arilova in Visakhapatnam was not giving bills. FIR has been registered against these hospitals under Disaster Management Act," Reddy said.

( With inputs from ANI )