Covid treatment scam? ED raids at Guntur NRI Hospital, Vijayawada Akkineni Women's Hospital

Vijayawada: Sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are conducting raids at NRI Hospital in Mangalagiri and Akkineni Women's Hospital in Vijayawada following allegations of illegal transactions of around Rs. 50-60 crores during the Covid-19 pandemic. The teams are also investigating allegations of diverting hospital and medical college funds for international business.

Around five teams came from Hyderabad and Delhi to conduct raids in Vijayawada on Friday. The teams are also conducting raids on the residence of the present and former directors of the hospitals, including Nimmagadda Upendranath, Akkineni Mani, Uppala Srinivasa Rao, and Nalini Mohan.

Raids are also being conducted at Akkineni Women's Hospital of Akkineni Uma who allegedly diverted NRI Hospital's funds. She was previously one of the directors of NRI Hospital.

According to sources, there were allegations that NRI Hospital misled funds by issuing fake/manual receipts for amounts received from relatives of Covid patients while they charged high amounts. The amounts were not entered in the billing report and were diverted.

During the investigation, it was found that the hospital had not recorded details of around 1,500 patients for Covid-19 treatment. According to the officials, during the pandemic, the NRI Hospital asked patients to deposit Rs. 2 lakhs for Covid treatment before admission, promising reimbursement. However, all the funds were utilized and the patients were given fake bills for the deposited amount.

Medical scam

It may be recalled that in June 2022, the police unearthed a multi-crore scam involving the management of NRI Hospital in Mangalagiri, Guntur district. Eleven persons, including Dr. Nimmagadda Upendranadh and Akkineni Mani of NRI Academy of Sciences, were booked on charges of illegal transfer of crores from the academy by creating fictitious records and accounts and taking advantage of the Covid pandemic.

In a complaint filed by Gadddipati Srinivasa Rao, an office assistant at the NRI Academy, he alleged that the accused created a fictitious account under the name of buildings and transferred Rs. 4.30 cores during the period 5 April 2017 and 15 May 2018. However, no constructions were undertaken on the academy's premises at Chinakakani.

Allegations were also raised that massive amounts were received from students for management quota seats for the 2018-19 academic session and an amount of Rs. 3.07 crores were diverted by creating a fictional account in the name of MBBS Fee Suspense account.