PMJAY ‘racket’: National regulator stays order suspending registration of doctor; Gujarat medical council hits back

Dr Vazirani is accused of having allegedly conducted “completely unnecessary” angioplasty surgeries on residents of a village in Mehsana, as part of “the wider conspiracy” to cheat the state exchequer under the PMJAY scheme.

In its order, dated April 10, the NMC stated that it had granted a stay to Dr Vazirani against the implementation of the GMC order.

The NMC order, seen by The Indian Express, cited a Bombay High Court judgment granting incidental powers to the NMC to stay “orders of penalty” imposed by state medical councils. It further stated that the NMC had received an appeal application from Dr Vazirani contesting the GMC’s penalty order on December 23, 2024. It said, “The Authority considered his (Dr Vazirani) appeal and is of the opinion that irreparable harm or prejudice will be caused to the appellant if the said order is allowed to be implemented pending hearing of the Appeal.”

The stay order, signed by Dr Raghav Langer, Secretary of the NMC, further stated, “Accordingly, after due deliberations, it has been decided to stay the operation of the (GMC) order till the matter is heard and decided by the Ethical and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) and an order passed thereon.”

The NMC order came just five days before the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of Ahmedabad City Police, on April 15, said it filed a 400-page supplementary chargesheet against the chairman of Khyati Multispeciality Hospital, thus taking the complete chargesheet against the nine accused, including Dr Vazirani, to 6,070 pages in the PMJAY racket. The charges against Dr Vazirani and 7 other accused persons, were filed by the Crime Branch on February 3, 2025.

Notably, Dr Vazirani was the first person to be arrested in the case, being picked up by the police just hours after he and others were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among other charges in three separate FIRs on November 13, 2024.

On Thursday (April 24), the GMC wrote to the NMC, requesting the national medical regulator to “immediately” vacate the stay it had granted to Dr Vazirani in “public interest”. If the stay continues, “it will pose a significant threat to public health and undermine trust in the medical regulatory framework”, it added.

The GMC letter to the NMC stated that “the allegations against Dr Vazirani and Khyati Hospital are prima facie of a very serious nature. It has been revealed that unwarranted angiography and angioplasty surgeries were performed on unsuspecting villagers in order to illicitly claim benefits under the PMJAY scheme. This constitutes a serious fraud against the government.”

The GMC letter to the Commission, signed by Honorary Registrar Dr Chetan Patel, further elaborated on the findings of the expert committee’s report on the basis of which the State had filed its FIR against the nine accused in the case. It also included passages from the chargesheet filed against Dr Vazirani and especially mentions, “To date, he (Dr Vazirani) remains in judicial custody and has not been granted bail.”

The GMC said it found it shocking that the NMC had decided to grant a stay on its order without hearing the Gujarat government through the department concerned as well as without calling for case-related documents from the state council.

In total, the GMC had suspended the medical registrations of three doctors who are among the nine accused in the Khyati Hospital PMJAY case. Besides Dr Vazirani, these were Dr Sanjay Mulji Patolia and Dr Shaileshkumar Amrutlal Anand. The three-year suspension orders on the medical registrations of Dr Patolia and Dr Anand came into effect from February 11, 2025.

While Dr Patolia is a Bariatric Surgeon and Director of Ahmedabad Bariatrics and Cosmetics Pvt Ltd, the holding company of Khyati Multispeciality Hospital; Dr Anand is the former General Manager of the PMJAY scheme in Gujarat.

What is the case?

On November 10, 2024, Khyati Multispeciality Hospital conducted a free health camp in Borisana village of Kadi taluka in Mehsana district. The health camp, held at the Mahadev temple premises, had been attended by more than 80 villagers. The next day, a bus from the hospital picked up 19 villagers who consented for a more comprehensive check up, and brought them to Ahmedabad. The FIR filed by the state government said that the hospital conducted angiography on all of them, followed by angioplasty on seven of them, all unnecessary and without informed consent, and did not provide adequate post-operative care, leading to the death of two men — Mahesh Girdhar Barot (52) and Nagar Moti Senma (75).