New Delhi: Over 100 hospitals found involved in corruption and fraud have been listed on the official website of Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme as part of the government's "name and shame" policy, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.
The policy is aimed at creating deterrence among healthcare establishments.
Addressing the "Arogya Manthan", organised on the first anniversary of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY), Mr Vardhan said the government is also planning to adopt a "name and fame" approach to reward hospitals performing well under the scheme.
The "Arogya Manthan" was organised by the the National Health Authority (NHA), the apex body implementing the scheme.
"As part of the government's zero-tolerance towards corruption, names of 111 hospitals, which have been de-empanelled after they were found involved in some kind of corruption or fraudulent activity, have been put up on the official website of the AB-PMJAY as a part of our ''name and shame'' policy," the minister said.
"We will not tolerate anything that will hamper the integrity of the scheme," he said.
"We are now also planning to implement a name and fame initiative to felicitate and reward those hospitals which are performing well under the scheme so that their best practices can be emulated by others," he added.
Mr Vardhan said a strong fraud prevention, detection and control system is proving to be critical for PMJAY to ensure that frauds are prevented and even if they are attempted, they are quickly detected and strong action is taken.
Nearly 1,200 cases of fraud have been confirmed and action has been taken against 338 hospitals in the AB-PMJAY. First Information Reports have been registered against six and penalties amounting to over Rs 1.5 crore have been levied, Mr Vardhan had said earlier this month.
Mr Vardhan on Monday said 32 states and Union territories have already implemented PMJAY.
He expressed disappointment over the remaining four states -- West Bengal, Delhi, Telangana and Odisha -- not implementing the scheme.
Because of this, he said, their citizens are not able to reap the benefits of the scheme.
"We will constantly make efforts to bring the remaining four states on board," he said.