Doctors are considered as gods as they save lives; but the well decorated private and corporate hospitals are certainly not the abode of the Almighty.
These hospitals have turned out to be moneymaking machines that collect money from patients notwithstanding their poor economic situations. Incidentally, most of the major private hospitals have been provided land by the State Government at prime locations at a subsidised price.The intention of providing land to the corporate hospitals was nothing but to provide better and affordable health service to people, giving priority to the poor. However, the corporate hospitals have emerged as law onto themselves where the poor have no place.
Take the instance of Anjeman, an 11-year-old poor boy from Balangir district. He was admitted to the Kalinga Hospital. The State Government had sanctioned assistance for the poor boy from the Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF).However, the hospital authorities have started threatening the boy’s father of untimely discharge as his bills increased. “Isn’t it inhuman to discharge a patient before he is fitIJ” the boy’s father Aswani asked.
The father alleged that the hospital authorities made excess charge which ate into the funds available from the OSTF. Anjeman needed suction catheter and examination gloves on a daily basis for his treatment. However, it was given to him at much higher price than the market rate.
The hospital authorities should understand that they are dealing with a poor patient. The suction catheter which is provided to Anjaeman by hospital at the rate of Rs45 is sold at Rs25 in open market. Are the poor patients like Anjeman not simply exploited by the private hospitalsIJYes, they are. If private hospitals do not change their attitude towards the poor and needy patients, there is no need of providing them Government land and other facilities, said intellectuals here.
As the hospitals’ activities have made it clear that they mean business and nothing else, the Government must now tighten the screw.Interestingly, people’s representatives and bureaucrats associated with the hospital monitoring are silent. Fortunately, a group of social organizations took up Anjeman’s case and staged demonstration in front of the Kalinga Hospital. The State Government was yet to take action.
“We are keeping a close watch on the Anjeman issue,” said Health and Family Welfare Minister Atanu S Nayak.Anjeman’s is not the lone case. In another instance, a father pointed out that a private hospital in Chandrasekharpur area charged Rs5,000 to provide its ambulance to take a patient to the airport. The story of exploitation and inhuman treatment in private hospitals is unending.
While the State Government and our people’s representatives are apparently sleeping, a public interest litigation (PIl) filed in State High Court has sought intervention for free treatment of the poor at private hospitals built on subsidized Government land in Bhubaneswar.Filed by Cuttack-based Odia Yuva Manch president Rohan Kumar Mohanty, the PIl said: “None of the private hospitals that have been provided subsidized Government land are providing free treatment to patients who are indigent and live below the poverty line and also in distress.”
The PIl sought the court’s direction to the State Government to issue a notification making it mandatory for private hospitals, built on subsidized Government land, to treat poor patients for free.When the petition came up for hearing on May 15, the State Government counsel sought time for submitting the land lease agreements related to the land granted to the private hospitals. The matter is scheduled to be heard after summer vacation.
The Supreme Court in 2012 had directed all private hospitals to reserve 25 per cent of their outpatient department capacity and 10 per cent of beds at the indoor section for free treatment of the poor. The Governments of various States had issued notifications in that regard.But the Government of Odisha has so far not issued any notification directing private hospitals to provide free treatment to poor people.
Former Health Minister Prasanna Acharya had announced that the order relating to direction to hospitals would be applicable to all private hospitals, irrespective of whether they had got Government land on concession rates or not and said detailed guidelines would be issued shortly. However, the guidelines are yet to be notified.The recent kidney sale racket matter has also rocked the entire State. The Health Department which is supposed to look after the affairs and regulate activities of private hospitals appeared hand in glove with the managements.
Besides exploitation of poor patients, private hospitals are also accused of indulging in all sorts of activities like harassing patients, not accepting the health cards issued to farmers and prescribing more medicines than requirement.A cancer patient from Kendrapara district narrated his agony while speaking on the activities of private hospital. The doctors had told that he required Rs1 lakh for an operation on his wife. However, the authorities of Sparsh Hospital informed that they did not accept the State Government’s health card.
The poor man had to sell his agricultural land for the treatment of his wife. The farmer contacted the authorities in the State Government. But, the Government said it cannot force the hospital to accept the heath card. “We are trying to bring Sparsh Hospital to the ambit of health card scheme. But, for now, we cannot do anything,” the officer said.
The allegations are long, but who is there to regulate the private hospitalsIJ It is high time a Regulator for health services is appointed on the lines of Electricity Regulatory Authority or Banking Ombudsman, which should have the teeth to take care of these corporate hospitals.