How MP health directorate created a hospital on paper and paid ₹14.62 lakh

Health officials in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district were puzzled last month when they received ₹14.62 lakh from the state health directorate as financial aid to maintain medical equipment and purchase supplies for the Rajpur community health centre (CHC).The MP health directorate sanctioned ₹14.62 lakh for upkeep of a health centre that exists only on paper, exposing gaps in the state’s health system.The source of bafflement: the Rajpur CHC doesn’t exist.The state directorate of health services had allocated funds for the annual upkeep of what it assumed was a functioning CHC in Rajpur – where none existed.The allocation was made under ‘category-C’ of the state’s plan to strengthen CHCs for the 2025-26-period. In the district-wise order issued by the deputy director (hospital administration), directorate of public health and medical education, CHC Rajpur was listed as a functional facility with a full equipment list and a budget of ₹14.62 lakhs.The initial bafflement of Guna’s district health officials turned to indignation when they realised it could be a case of fraud. Clearly, laid down processes were not followed, said a district health official who asked not to be named.“As per procedure, physical verification and gap assessment is done before allocating the budget, and funds are released based on demand raised by the district. Here, the entire list was prepared for a non-existent CHC without any demand or field verification,” a senior health officer said, calling it a major administrative lapse.After the order created confusion in Guna, chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Rajkumar Rishishwar wrote to the state health directorate last month, pointing out the mistake and asking for an explanation. That letter went viral on Thursday.In his letter, accessed by HT, Rishishwar said that no “…CHC by the name of CHC Rajpur is operational in Guna district” and sought guidance on how to proceed with the “purchases”.“We have sought guidance regarding the allocation made for CHC Rajpur so that further action can be taken as per instructions,” Rishishwar said.The health official, quoted earlier, said the blunder raises serious questions about planning in the critical healthcare sector at a time when the state administration is already struggling with gaps in healthcare infrastructure.Madhya Pradesh has 348 CHCs, 1,442 PHCs (primary health centres), 52 district hospitals and 161 civil hospitals. A 2021-22 study by Jan Abhiyan Parishad, an NGO working on health, found rural MP short of 245 CHCs, 1,045 PHCs and 4,134 sub-health centres.“When the government is unable to run existing facilities, how can it allocate budget for a non-existing one?” said Amulya Nidhi, convener of Jan Abhiyan Parishad. “Now the government wants to run 18 CHCs in PPP mode, but it has budget for a CHC that only exists on paper. A few months ago, transfers and postings were also done for a hospital that was running only on paper,” he added.Senior deputy director health Nitin Patel said, “We came to know about it from CMHO’s letter. We are probing the matter how it happened.”HT has reached out to the health directorate for a response.