Brave whistleblower exposes pharma fraud

Ms Patchani Phunsuk, a whistleblower at the heart of a pandemic of pharmaceutical corruption, has, in an act of extraordinary bravura, put a light on a criminal network that hijacked taxpayer-funded drugs to line the pockets of a handful of people at the expense of public health.

The corruption eligibility reached 10-years back related to the manufacture of “fake patients” to leave the Veterans General Hospital system in order to aid in the resale of drugs illegally, resulting in damages worth billions of baht.

Ms Patchani’s odyssey began when she was approached by a “team leader” who attempted to recruit her into the operation.

The leader, who belonged to a network of phony patients, described the scheme: elderly people, both actually sick and completely healthy, were empanelled as phony patients.

They would go to the Veterans General Hospital, pretend to have illnesses and get large amounts of medications, which they would then turn over to the network in exchange for cash. Those drugs were then resold for a profit.

Ms Patchani had been warned by her family to stay out of the scheme for fear of her safety — but she wanted to take a stand.

“I did this because I want to see justice served. I wanted to ensure that the individuals that this network had wronged would suffer real consequences,” she said.

She started collecting evidence, recording conversations and documenting the process.

She even went undercover: posing as a fake patient so she could gather firsthand evidence. Gradually, she collected a mountain of evidence, including video recordings and affidavits from the scheme’s other players.

“We as fake patients were advised on the way to behave during medical consultations and some doctors inside the hospital were complicit in terms of prescribing unnecessary medicines,” she said, adding that the medicines could range from treatment for heart disease to painkillers for joints to liver supplements and even artificial tears.

Some of the medicines were costly and not covered by standard insurance plans, such as the government’s gold card or civil servant healthcare schemes.

Ms Eang acted as both her recruiter and team leader, arranging transport to ferry fake patients, aged 40 to 70, from Lop Buri to the hospital in Bangkok.

Many were families of veterans because Lop Buri has one of Thailand’s biggest army bases.

One of the “fake patients,” a 54-year-old woman, acknowledged that she had been recruited into the operation by a military officer. She received between 1,000 and 1,500 baht each time she picked up medicine, using general symptoms and drug prescriptions written in advance.

“We’d be given fatty or sugary foods on the van whenever we were driving to Bangkok. We were asked to complete them before meeting with the doctor in order to have the blood test reflect symptoms that needed medications,” she said.

A 66 year-old-man, another patient brought into the scheme, said his neighbour told him about the job where he could earn a regular wage in his retirement.

He went to the hospital in Bangkok each month. He had been paid to bring back drugs but was nervous about the legal ramifications of what he was doing.

“We were told that if we attended to see Dr B, we’d just hand over the prescription that the doctor would give us a huge amount of medicine. But if I went to another doctor, they would just write a prescription and give me the medications, although not as big of a quantity,” he said.

Ms Patchani said that any medication that fake patients received was passed to their team leader. The drugs were brought to a laundromat at a condominium in Rama IV area where they were kept for sale on the black market.

“The drugs from the Veterans General Hospital never reached their patients,” Ms Patchani said, noting that patients who require medication for their own symptoms come to their hospital in Lop Buri for their drugs.

High-ranking military officials, including a colonel known asMs Reed, had also participatedin thefake patient scheme, she said. “It is Ms Reed who made payments to the team leaders and ran the operation,” she said.

Despite aches about her safety, Ms Patchani ultimately submitted the evidence she had gathered to the House committee on the Armed Forces, prompting an investigate both into the corruption.

After the scandal broke, attempts to cover up the operation.

Ms Eang reached out to team staff, including Patchani, and pressured her to destroy evidence and materials, such as medical records, chat logs, and SIM cards, to prevent any leak. But Ms Patchani would not comply, opting instead to be a key witness in the case.

The corruption network’s true reach was more extensive than just the military and medical professionals, said Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, Deputy Commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB).

Police Anti-Corruption Division (ACD) officials, National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) authorities and Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) officers have now teamed to focus on the case.

The investigation is being followed out on several angles and some of the implicated also include high-ranking officers and medical experts, Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat said. So far, some 600 fake patients from seven network groups in Lop Buri have been identified, the initial investigation showed.

“The probe is not only limited to lop Buri. “We will scale to more provinces or even other hospitals,” he said.

As the investigation unfolds, Ms Patchani’s efforts are being celebrated an act of bravery and integrity. She has urged others connected to the network to come forward and testify. “I want to say to the patients involved: if you’ve done something wrong, don’t be scared to come forward,” Ms Patchani said. “And to the team leaders, do not lure threats or manipulate the truth, because at the end of the day you know what you did.”

This is a scandal whose fallout will be felt for many years to come; legal action is now starting to take shape.

The journey has been long and challenging for Ms Patchani, but she stands firm in the belief that exposing the truth was the right thing to do. The ripple effect of this scandal serves as a stark reminder for the healthcare system, ensuring vigilance in the journey to realize a just future. “I hope that this case will encourage others to speak out against corruption and stand up for what is right,” Ms Patchani said.