The Enforcement Directorate from New Delhi raided premises of several private hospitals in the state on Wednesday.
“The premises of Fortis Hospital in Kangra (promoted by Bali’s company Himachal Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.), presently managed by Nagrota Congress MLA Raghubir Singh Bali, Balaji Hospital in Kangra – whose promoter is another Congress leader Rajesh Sharma, were also raided by the ED teams including 19 other hospital premises” .
The raids were conducted to investigate alleged misuse of “fake Ayushman Cards issued under Pradhanmantri Jan Arogya Yojana, “by certain hospitals.
The issue had come to light after an FIR was registered by a complainant Jasbir Singh of Una by SB&ACB at Una in 2023 against an employee of Banke Bihari Hospital Una for allegedly making fake cards in the name of beneficiaries to take benefit of the scheme by the hospital.
Later, investigating had revealed several private hospitals, empanelled to treat patients having Ayushman Cards, allegedly made use of the “fake cards “to take benefits.
An ED official said, “About 19 locations in Shimla, Kangra, Una, Mandi and Kullu in the state apart from Delhi and Chandigarh are being searched since morning.”