Cobrapost unearths a thriving commission racket in 20 top hospitals
Moneylife Digital Team 01 September 2017
Cobrapost  has unearthed a thriving racket in 20 major private hospitals where it found that handsome commissions, ranging between 10% to 30%, are being given to doctors and smaller hospitals for referring a patient.
 
According to Cobrapost, hospitals involved in this racket are from Fortis Hospital (with a branch each in Mumbai and Bangalore), JP Hospital and 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.
 
Here is what Cobrapost says...
 
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.
 
The guidelines issued by Medical Council of India (MCI) prohibit such commissions by hospitals for referring patients. 
 
The MCI Code of Ethics Regulations, 2002 Chapter 6 Unethical Acts states:
 
6.4 Rebates and Commission
6.4.1 A physician shall not give, solicit, or receive nor shall he offer to give solicit or receive, any gift, gratuity, commission or bonus in consideration of or return for the referring, recommending or procuring of any patient for medical, surgical or other treatment. A physician shall not directly or indirectly, participate in or be a party to act of division, transference, assignment, subordination, rebating, splitting or refunding of any fee for medical, surgical or other treatment.
 
Cobrapost first called on JP Hospital, spread across 25 acres in Noida’s Sector 128. Assuming an alias supposedly working for small-town hospital in Meerut offering referral services to big hospitals, Cobrapost reporter first met Deputy Manager (Sales and Marketing) Amit Kumar Bandopadhyay and after him Senior Manager DK Bhardwaj. Both told Cobrapost that their hospital gives a 10% cut on patient referrals and has provisions for it. Says Amit Kumar: “Radiotherapy mein dus per cent de rahe hain … even aapka kya bolte hain chemotherapy and surgical oncology ka koi case aata hai to uss par bhi 10 per cent de rahe hain drugs and disposals hata ke (We give 10% [cut] for radiotherapy … even in cases if chemotherapy and surgical oncology we give 10 % excluding the bill on drugs and disposals).”
 
Watch Video
 
 
 
Comments
sundararaman gopalakrishnan
7 years ago
Medical practice is BIG BUSINESS..that is the reason parents are willing to pay Ra 1 crore+ for a medical seat.The doctor recovers it from the patients in this way..
Sorry state of affairs
Mahesh S Bhatt
7 years ago
Medicine & Education is Political business Mahesh Bhatt
SuchindranathAiyerS
7 years ago
This is just the tip of the ice berg. Rooted in the incompetence of "Reservations" and the the extortion of "Donations". India's Hospitals are a killing field. This is why the BJP's first act on coming to power was to turn the Khangress-UPA bill into law so that Neta-Babus can go abroad with family and friends for medical treatment leaving the rest of us to die in penury
SuchindranathAiyerS
7 years ago
This is just the tip of the ice berg. Rooted in the incompetence of "Reservations" and the the extortion of "Donations". India's Hospitals are a killing field. This why the Bjp's first act on coming to power was to turn the Khangress-UPA bill into law so that Neta-Babus can go abroad with family and friends for medical treatment.
A BANERJEE
7 years ago
This is only the tip of the iceberg. This practice has been in existence for decades, and almost in all private hospitals, though it became almost universal and more "menacing" with the entry in the healthcare industry of the "corporate hospitals". All this is known to the investigators in the income tax department and also to the top echelons in the govt, with whose patronage and complicity only this practice has become widespread.
PRAKASH D N
7 years ago
When the State becomes a spectator in medical education and allows colleges to charge nearly 50 lakhs for just the MBBS course, how can you expect the student who has invested half crore to recover his investment. MCI is headed by a person who is under cloud. You cannot expect anything in this situation. Unfortunately there is no thinking to invest in public health on the part of central or Govts.
Karthikeyan Viswanathan
Replied to PRAKASH D N comment 7 years ago
You nailed it sir. In fact donations, fee etc for pursuing PG in medical field is all the more expensive and it is naive to expect a doctor who has spent so much to acquire degrees & diplomas to lookup to the profession with service moto.
ArrayArray
Free Helpline
Legal Credit
Feedback