Jaipur, July 18 -- The state government has cut off benefits under the Rajasthan Government Health Scheme (RGHS) to 51 hospitals over the past three months after routine audits detected financial and procedural irregularities, officials said. Separately, the government has levied fines amounting to nearly Rs.3 crore on 24 hospitals for violating prescribed scheme norms in the past month. Officials said the penalties followed audits and hearings held by additional chief executive officer Dr Nidhi Patel. They uncovered many financial and procedural violations, including duplication of documents, conducting unnecessary diagnostic tests, submitting inflated claims by splitting services that were part of a single treatment package, failure to provide mandatory supporting documents, and converting outpatient (OPD) cases into inpatient (IPD) admissions to claim higher reimbursements. These placed an unnecessary burden on the state exchequer, they said. State Health Assurance Agency chief executive officer Harjeelal Atal said the audit mechanism was being improved and strict action will continue against any errant hospitals found. Principal secretary (medical and health) Gayatri Rathore said the department has strengthened monitoring of the RGHS in line with the state government's anti-corruption policy. State health minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar said misuse of public funds, corruption and fake claims would not be tolerated under any circumstances....