A government nurse has been suspended in Assam for extracting money from a scheme meant for pregnant women. Sh... Read More

GUWAHATI: A government nurse has been suspended in Assam for extracting money from a scheme meant for pregnant women. She faked 85 pregnancies in a bid to extract benefit from the scheme, according to media reports.

The Assam government scheme meant to promote safer childbirth awards Rs 500 to a woman who chooses to deliver at rural health centres. Sensing opportunity, Lily Begam Sarkar , a nurse at government hospital in Karimnagar, showed 160 deliveries at the hospital; she listed herself as the mother in over half of them and that too in just six months. Sarkar earned Rs 40,000 as part of the scheme, reports said.

Officials say they found out about the fraud when they conducted an inspection of the hospital following a complaint. They said that since Sarkar was incharge of the payments too, the fraud was not easy to detect. She was suspended on September 17.

Though Sarkar apologised for the fraud, she said she resorted to this because of the "tremendous pressure" on nurses like her. She also accused the government of not giving enough remuneration to nurses in the state-run hospitals.