Cuttack: Cracking its whip on rampant corruption at SCB Medical College and Hospital’s Clinical Hematology Department, the Vigilance on Wednesday arrested Dr. Sudha Sethy and sent her to judicial custody on the charges of embezzlement of Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF).
According to reports, Dr. Sethy in connivance with the Head of the Department (HOD) RK Jena was prescribing higher cost drugs of a particular brand to poor patients using their official position.
RK Jena is already under Vigilance scanner for obtaining financial and other benefits from various pharmaceutical companies including availing foreign tours.
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The anti-corruption wing has already detected assets over Rs 3 crore in the name of RK Jena and his family members. Jena is evading arrest and investigation since then.
Vigilance officials informed that RK Jena along with Dr Sudha Sethy and nodal officer of OSTF used to recommend patients high cost drugs of Pfizer pharmaceutical company by mentioning its generic or molecular name of the drug instead of writing the specific name of the medicine.
Though the same drugs were available in the Central store of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Dr Jena and Dr Sudha Sethy have been prescribing ‘Atgam’ to the patients, which costs almost double the cost of ‘Thymogam’, which (Thymogam) is easily available in the SCB Medical Store and market.
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The recommendation of the particular brand of drug besides causing problems for poor patients in availing the benefits under the Odisha State Treatment Fund also caused loss to the State exchequer.