Hospital temporary staff arrested for misappropriating funds by manipulating bills

Kochi: A temporary staff member of taluk headquarters hospital in North Paravur was arrested on Friday for allegedly manipulating bills and misappropriating hospital funds amounting to Rs 3 lakh. Police identified the accused as Sherina, 34, a native of Paravur.

According to the police, Sherina worked at the hospital's billing section and the irregularities reportedly occurred between April and Oct 2025. Police said she tampered with records related to laboratory test payments by deleting receipts from the hospital computer system after collecting money from patients. She then diverted the collected amount for personal gain, police added.

She was arrested by a team led by Munambam DSP S Jayakrishnan. Sherina was produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody.

Officers said that further examination of hospital billing records was under way to determine whether others were also involved in the fraud.