The Ahmedabad Police have arrested Kartik Patel, the mastermind behind a major Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) scam that resulted in the deaths of two individuals following unnecessary angioplasty procedures. Patel, the chairman of Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, was apprehended at Ahmedabad airport on Saturday after returning from Dubai. He had been on the run for over two months and is now set to be interrogated by the police.
The scam came to light after an incident on November 11 of the previous year, when seven individuals underwent angioplasty at the hospital. Two of them tragically died due to complications from the procedure, which police later revealed was medically unnecessary. The hospital had exploited the PMJAY scheme by organizing free check-up camps to lure beneficiaries into undergoing angioplasty that was not needed.
Out of 8,000 patients treated at Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, 3,000 were PMJAY beneficiaries. The hospital fraudulently claimed payments under the scheme for these treatments. According to police, the hospital generated Rs 11 crore in 2024 through such fraudulent claims, with 70% of its income coming from PMJAY reimbursements.