• Shocking information in Vigilance raid
• Distress relief was issued for the dead as well

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Chief Minister's Relief Fund, which is supposed to support the sick and destitute, is looted by agents and officials, with the help of fraudsters. Medical aid fund is given in the name of the deceased. Doctors also indulge in fraud by taking bribes and issuing fake medical certificates. A doctor in Punalur issued 1500 medical certificates for this purpose. The shocking information came in the lightning raid launched by Vigilance named Operation CMDRF. The raid will continue for two more days. Only then will the extent of the scam become clear.

In the districts of Kollam, Kottayam, and Alappuzha, medical aid was stolen in the name of the deceased. The fraud is colluded by the officers and agents in charge of the relief fund in the collectorates. Money is extorted by producing fake medical and income certificates. The agents and officials will take the pre-determined amount.

Vigilance chief Manoj Abraham told KeralaKoumudi that there are huge irregularities in all districts, where money is being released without any checks or norms. Most of the certificates issued along with the online application are fake. No scrutiny of the same happens.

The condition is that the annual family income should not exceed one lakh. But in Ernakulam, a rich foreign Malayali was given 3 lakh rupees and another foreign Malayali was given 45,000 rupees. Funding was also given to the application where the medical expenses were not mentioned in the medical certificate. In Kasaragod, 2 medical certificates in the same handwriting were signed by 2 doctors. Those who did not provide Aadhaar, or ration card copy and did not sign the application also received money.

Multiple diseases, multiple payments

• In 2017, Kottayam Collectorate gave Rs. 5000 and in 2019, Idukki Collectorate gave Rs. 10,000 to a native of Mundakkayam for heart disease.
• Kottayam Collectorate gave Rs 10,000 to the same person for cancer treatment in 2020.
• He was given a medical certificate by an orthopedic specialist at Kanjirapally Hospital.
• In Karunagappally, a doctor gave 4 certificates to everyone in a house in two stages.
• Five certificates for heart disease in Palakkad were given by an Ayurvedic doctor.
• In Anchuthengu, a liver patient was paid based on a heart disease certificate.

Agents' in play

• The phone number in the application belongs to agents in many places.
• Same agent's phone number in 16 applications in Thiruvananthapuram.
• In Idukki, the name and disease were corrected many times in the medical certificate.
• Applications are made on behalf of patients without their knowledge.

Help to whom

Those who have faced natural calamities, those who have lost loved ones in accidents, those who are seriously ill, and those who are facing job loss

Complain at

1064, 8592900900

9447789100 (WhatsApp)

'It will be recommended to the government to make a proper system to provide financial assistance.'

-Manoj Abraham

Head of Vigilance