The farmers' state pension and health care fund Oga on Tuesday announced that a fake prescription scams recently uncovered by
Oga inspectors had cost the fund upward of 250,000 euro for pharmaceuticals and medical services never actually used by Oga patients.
Oga inspectors had cost the fund upward of 250,000 euro for pharmaceuticals and medical services never actually used by Oga patients.
Among others, the checks led inspectors to a company supplying oxygen tanks and related apparatus in western Greece that was even earning money for patients that were dead.
The scam also involved administrative staff at a health centre, doctors that prescribed tests and services for patients that had never been examined or were actually dead and a police officer that certified that the signatures of the beneficiaries were genuine.
Issuing fake prescriptions was also the method used by one Cyclades pharmacy to boost its turnover. Inspectors were alerted to the problem when the invoices submitted to Oga by the specific pharmacy suddenly jumped by roughly 50,000 euro from a monthly average of 4,000. In total, the specific pharmacy is estimated to have cost the fund 180,000 in fake prescriptions.
A further 65,000 euro was taken in this way by a pharmacy on Crete, where inspectors found doctors' stamps used to illegally write out precriptions for drugs never received by those they were intended for.
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ANA-MPA
