New York: An Indian-American physician here has been found guilty of $ 700,000 Medicaid fraud in which he prescribed HIV medications to patients who did not have it.
 
Suresh Hemrajani, 58, an internal medicine physician, was convicted by a jury on charges of grand larceny and 11 counts of falsifying business records, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.
 
"The defendant not only took advantage of a programme intended to assist New Yorkers who cannot afford to pay for medical care, he also took precious funds from a state facing severe budget cuts," Mr Vance said.
 
According to information at his trial, in 2008 Mr Hemrajani wrote prescriptions for HIV medications for various individuals without determining whether they actually had HIV. He then billed the cost of the medications to Medicaid.
 
He also created false records for his purported treatment of the patients, even though in most cases the individuals did not visit his office more than once.
 
When some of these patients later tried to obtain prescriptions from a hospital, one of them was tested and found to be HIV-negative, which prompted an investigation by the Office of the  Medicaid Inspector General, the Human Resources Administration Bureau of Fraud Investigation and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
 
The investigation into the whereabouts of the HIV medications is ongoing.

Medicaid is the United States health program jointly funded by the state and federal  governments for certain people and families with low incomes and resources.

Tags: HIV drugs, Indian-American doctor, Suresh Hemrajani