Koderma (Jharkhand): The 'Janani Suraksha Yojana' of the Jharkhand government might be only for women on paper, but it seems to be liberal enough to perform miracles by making 'men deliver babies' and women deliver 'over a dozen times in a single day'.
The Satgawan Community Health Center in Jharkhand's Koderma district is in the middle of a scam of bungling lakhs of rupees in funds meant for expecting mothers at the time of their delivery. Under the scheme, a pregnant woman is provided Rs 1400 to have a safe delivery in government hospitals.
The Community Health Center, however, have shown men delivering babies and women delivering 12-14 times a day as officials have gone on a spree of fabricating information and fudging official records.
Indiscriminate 'Miraculous' Deliveries By Men And Women
As per the official records at the Satgawan Community Health Centre, one woman has been shown to have delivered 12-14 times a day. The records indicate that the funds thus released were deposited in the account of that one woman with all this happening under the nose of the hospital authorities, who did not even get a clue of this.
How The Scam Came To Light
Anil Kumar, Civil Surgeon in Koderma said that he got a clue of the scam some 15-20 days ago when he noticed from the official records that the money of the beneficiary women of Janani Suraksha Yojana was transferred to other accounts.
“I secretly investigated and froze those accounts. Two days ago I sent it to the DPM of the district and got the investigation report which was given to me, it is clear from it that the clerk and some of his colleagues are involved there. They have also transferred money to their account, which is a serious matter,” Dr Kumar said.
Probe Ordered
After the matter came to light, there was a stir not only in the hospital but in the entire department. On the orders of the DC, a five-member investigation team was formed under the leadership of DDC Rituraj. The team reached Satgawan and started investigating the matter.
DDC Rituraj, who heads the probe team said that they are investigating the accounts the money has been deposited into.
“Along with this, statements of all the people involved in this process have been taken one by one. All the details are also being sought from the bank. If it is a project of the Health Department, then only the people associated with it are involved. The report will be sent to the DC,” the DDC said.
Medical Officer In-charge In The Dock
Sources said that in the investigation conducted by Siddharth Sanyal, Regional Director General of Health Department, the negligence of the Medical Officer in charge of the hospital, Dr. Satyanarayan Bhagat, has come to light.
Neetu Kumari, Zila Parishad member said that some hospital employees are also involved in the scam while demanding action against the culprits.
Siddharth Sanyal, Regional Director General, Health Department said that the scam may have been prevalent for the past year or at least in the the last few months. “There has been financial irregularity here. The signature of the hospital officer should be there on the paper but there is no signature,” he said.
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