BENGAL HEALTH MINISTER ALLEGES ₹30-CRORE IRREGULARITIES IN SWASTHYA SATHI; FORENSIC AUDIT ORDERED

October 31, 2026

KOLKATA, OCTOBER 31: West Bengal Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee has alleged financial irregularities amounting to ₹25–30 crore in the previous Trinamool Congress government's Swasthya Sathi health insurance scheme, claiming that millions of beneficiary cards were found to be fake, untraceable or impossible to verify during an ongoing examination of the scheme's database.

The alleged discrepancies reportedly emerged as the state government began verifying beneficiary records while preparing to extend health insurance coverage to eligible residents under the Centre's Ayushman Bharat programme and the state's Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojana.

Mukherjee claimed that the previous administration had been spending approximately ₹30 crore annually on insurance premiums associated with beneficiary cards whose holders could not be verified. He further alleged that suspected irregularities extended beyond the creation of beneficiary cards to include patients, doctors, hospitals and information submitted at different stages of the insurance process.

Describing the alleged findings as only the beginning of a larger investigation, the minister said that a forensic audit had been initiated to establish the extent of the suspected financial irregularities. The government is also conducting a detailed examination of the Swasthya Sathi database to identify questionable records and determine how public funds may have been utilised.

The minister also referred to discrepancies allegedly detected during verification of beneficiaries under the previous government's Lakshmir Bhandar welfare scheme, suggesting that scrutiny of other government programmes was continuing.

Launched by the then chief minister Mamata Banerjee in December 2016 and operational from February 2017, Swasthya Sathi provides cashless health coverage of up to ₹5 lakh annually per family, with insurance premiums borne by the state government.

The allegations have placed the implementation, beneficiary verification and financial administration of the state's flagship healthcare programme under renewed scrutiny. However, the precise extent of any financial loss, the number of genuinely fraudulent records and the responsibility of individuals or institutions involved remain matters for the ongoing audit and investigation. The minister's claims have not, by themselves, established criminal wrongdoing by the previous administration