Burdwan, Aug. 29: A farmer in Burdwan has accused a private hospital of deducting Rs 3,500 from his medical insurance card for an eye operation that was not done, with authorities terming it a “clerical mistake”.

The district co-ordinator of the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojna (RSBY), which issued the card to Sudeb Khan, has started an inquiry.

Khan, a 63-year-old farmer in Gunar village, had gone to Lion Club’s Seva Eye Hospital in Jamalpur on January 22 for a cataract operation in his right eye. “After taking my blood samples, the doctor asked me to come back seven days later, ” Khan said.

But, on January 29, Khan was told the operation could not be done on him because he had high blood sugar.

The BPL card holder alleged the authorities had taken his medical card and asked him give his thumb impression on papers before saying he had high sugar levels.

The RSBY medical cards are issued by the state under a centrally-funded project for BPL card holders who can claim reimbursements upto Rs 30,000 under the scheme.

Khan went to another doctor who asked him get the cataract operated as early as possible. At Netralaya, another private hospital in Memari, Khan was told in July that Rs 3,500 had been deposited with the Lions’ Club-run hospital.

The farmer lodged a complaint with district magistrate .S. Meena and the district co-ordinator of RSBY Soumen Sinha Roy on Monday.

P.K Roy, the chairman of the Lions’ Club-run hospital, said the deduction was a mistake. “It is a clerical mistake. The hospital will bear the expenses of Khan’s operation.”