Private nursing home in Odisha ‘operates elderly patients to extract health card claims’

A disturbing pattern has emerged from Odisha’s Bhadrak district, where elderly villagers were allegedly misled by representatives of a private nursing home into undergoing unnecessary eye surgeries, sources said on Tuesday.

The victims claim that their Ayushman Bharat health cards were used to fraudulently extract money alone.

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According to sources, serious allegations have surfaced against a private nursing home in Bhadrak, which has allegedly been luring elderly persons into surgeries under false pretenses. The latest case involves Jadida village under Kaptipada police limits, where nine senior citizens were taken from their homes after being promised free treatment.

Two women from the Bhadrak-based nursing home visited the village and claimed they would provide free eye treatment. Nine elderly persons, most of whom had no major eye issues, were first taken to Oupada and then shifted to Bhadrak, where they were forcibly subjected to eye surgeries.

One elderly man stated that his vision was normal, yet he was still operated on. The nursing home allegedly used its Ayushman Bharat cards to claim payments for the surgeries. After the procedures, the elderly persons were reportedly dropped off somewhere near their village without any post-operative care or follow-up.

The villagers are now demanding an investigation into this blatant misuse of public health funds and the exploitation of the vulnerable rural elderly.

As of now, no official response has been received from the nursing home authorities.

“The nursing home staff in a vehicle came to me and hurriedly put a torchlight on my eyes. Later, they told me that my eyes had developed wounds. Luring me for an eye check-up at Kaptipada, they took me to Bhadrak,” a victim, Jaladhar Khelpalia, said.

“No check-up was done, and my eyes were operated on instead. They even told me that the check-up could not be done as doctors were not available at that time. The health facility staff forcibly took my Aadhaar and other documents,” Jaladhar stated to OTV.

Reported By: Abhijit Biswal