Maharashtra likely to hike penalty on charitable hospitals which refuse to treat poor patients despite availing govt concessions

Time of India

a day ago

Mumbai: The state government plans to implement a new SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to streamline treatment priority in charitable hospitals, prompted by the growing numbers of poor and underprivileged residents.
This decision follows concerns raised during a calling attention motion in the state legislative assembly on Thursday, highlighting the failure to provide 20% reserved beds and free treatment to the poor, despite this being a condition for receiving concessions. The state also aims to accelerate bed allocation for beneficiaries of government schemes like Ladki Bahin besides increasing the penalty on those hospitals not abiding by government conditions of providing treatment to poor by reserving the beds.
"Charitable hospitals in the state have received land and various concessions such as 30% discount in their power and water bills. These hospitals are expected to provide reserved beds and concessional treatment rates to poor patients. However, a survey conducted by the Global Vikas Trust revealed that 70% of beds reserved for the poor and 92% of beds for the underprivileged were not utilized across the state. Additionally, even 2% of the IPF (Indigent Patient Fund) was not used.
Hospitals say they are unaware of these provisions, which is why the charitable hospitals have yet to comply to government conditions fully," said the motion raised by members such as Sana Malik, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Ajay Chaudhary, Chetan Tupe, Rajkumar Badole, Sanjay Kelkar, Rohit Pawar, Yogesh Sagar, Jitendra Awhad and Abu Aazmi.
Replying to the motion, minister Ashish Jaiswal announced the appointment of 168 health ambassadors to oversee approximately 600 charitable hospitals, ensuring proper treatment for nearly 3 lakh poor patients with 10% reserved beds.
The state is considering increased penalties for hospitals refusing treatment to eligible patients, he said, confirming action against hospitals not participating in the bed availability app for government schemes.
Regarding Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital case in Pune, he noted the government's recommendation to revoke a doctor's licence following a patient's death, adding that the government had offered deposits to the deceased's children.
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Following a 2004 court petition regarding charitable hospitals, directives mandated 10% bed reservation for indigent patients earning below ₹1.80 lakh, and another 10% for those earning between ₹1.80 lakh to ₹3.60 lakh. Various improvements have since been implemented to enhance the scheme's effectiveness.
"Charitable hospitals are required to deposit 2% of their revenue into the IPF, and the government expects this fund to be properly utilized.
Initially, there were 94 hospitals that had received government land. To expand the scope, any hospital receiving any form of grant was also brought under this scheme, increasing the number of covered hospitals to 303. However, a challenge remains: people with incomes between ₹1.80 and ₹3.60 lakh fall into a grey area.
The Chief Minister's "Ladki Bahin" scheme has a limit of ₹2.5 lakh, and it already covers over 2.5 crore beneficiaries. The Sanjay Gandhi scheme covers 45 lakh beneficiaries. Therefore, the government has plans to issue a new SOP to define which patients among the poor and underprivileged should be prioritized," Minister of State for Health, Ashish Jaiswal, said pointing out that care will be taken to ensure that people don't suffer due to the exhaustion of the 2% IPF funds.