Sanatan Prabhat > Post Type > News > National News > Take Disciplinary Action Against Charitable Hospitals Violating Rules : Surajya Abhiyan

Take Disciplinary Action Against Charitable Hospitals Violating Rules : Surajya Abhiyan

‘SurajyaAbhiyan’ demands action by Public Health and Family Welfare Department

Mumbai – Mrs Manisha Bhise, a pregnant woman, was not admitted by Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital at Pune for not depositing Rs 10 lakhs as security deposit and consequently, she died. This is not the only incident reported but there are likely to be many incidents where such charitable hospitals in Maharashtra might have refused to admit patients or charged exorbitant rates. In the absence of regular audits or sense of social responsibility, the poor and weak patients are unable to expose the injustice and malpractices happening against them; therefore, all charitable hospitals in the State should follow all rules and regulations pertaining to these hospitals, was the demand made by Mr Abhishek Murkute, Maharashtra State coordinator of ‘Surajya Abhiyan’ taken up under Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) with Public Health and  Family Welfare Minister Mr Prakash Abitkar and Central Health Minister Mr Jagat Prakash Nadda. Similar incidents were reported even earlier.

Abhishek Murukate

At Wockhardt Hospital, Navi Mumbai, ‘dialysis’ facility is available (After failure of kidneys, impurities from the blood are removed through a machine which process is called dialysis) but the treatment was not given to a young boy and he died in the absence of the treatment. At Lilavati and Jaslok Hospitals in Mumbai, 10% beds were not made available on charitable basis despite the Government orders. In July 2023, Maharashtra Government set up a committee to evaluate the working of charitable hospitals and to check proper abidance of the rules; besides ensuring methods of giving free treatment at discounted rates.

Legal Background

Many cases have been filed on this issue. The following petitions filed by advocate Sanjiv Punalekar have proved to be important in this matter –

1. PIL No 3132//2004 – Mumbai High Court ordered to reserve 10% beds for poor patients and 10% beds for people from financially weak sections, besides setting up ‘Indigent Patient Fund (IPF)’.

2. A Review petition No. 67/ 2010 – Advocate Sanjiv Punalekar opposed the hospitals’ demand seeking relaxation in the order in 2006. Though the high court didn’t change its original decision, no firm action has been taken or the committee’s report has been made public.

The State Government issued the following instructions as directed by High Court

1. All charitable hospitals should have online facility of ‘Charity Health Desk’

2. Action should be taken immediately on the reports of Law and Justice Department committees

3. Recruitment of approved 186 posts of charitable health employees should be promptly done

4. Information of poor patients’ funds should be regularly posted on the website of ‘Charity Commissioner’

5. Stringent action must be taken against hospitals violating the orders

Still many hospitals do not fulfil their social and legal obligations; therefore, few more demands have been made under ‘Surajya Abhiyan’.

1. Audit of all registered trust/ charitable hospitals should be conducted and made public on their websites

2. All review reports, audit reports and decisions taken in meetings from 2023 should be declared in the next 30 days

3. Disciplinary action should be taken against hospitals for violating rules set under charitable hospital schemes

4. ‘Public grievances redressal’ portal should be created for the patients who are denied treatment under charitable quota and updated information on available charitable beds may be regularly published.

5. Charitable hospitals get income tax rebate and are constructed on public lands; therefore, providing service to the deprived and needy is not only their legal but even moral duty.

Latest Articles