The Indian Dental Association, Deccan has sought a revision of guidelines framed to recognise private dental hospitals for treating Arogyasri patients.
Beyond reach
In a memorandum to the Arogyasri authorities, members of the association maintained that the present guidelines were beyond the reach of individual dental surgeons who operate standalone dental clinics in the city.
On the contrary, corporate hospitals and large chain of dental clinics, given their deep pockets, were able to meet the requirements laid out by Arogyasri Health Care Trust, they said.
Guidelines
“None of the dental treatments and procedures need overnight stay. There are certain requirements in the guidelines like five in-patient beds, five dental chairs and ten paramedical staff, which are not needed for dental procedures. The guidelines are clearly loaded in favour of corporate hospitals,” says Secretary, IDA, Deccan, Dr. A. Srikanth.
Outsourcing
Some of the requirements in the guidelines for instance make it mandatory for dental clinics to have an in-house dental laboratory in a 200 sft area.
Individual dental doctors, however, point out that all the dental clinics in Hyderabad outsource their laboratory work to dental laboratories.
Fire clearance mandatory
The Arogyasri also makes it mandatory for dental clinics to install fire fighting system and have fire clearance certificates.
“Fire clearance is required for large hospitals. Dental clinics function out of single or double rooms and unlike big hospitals they do not store inflammables in solid, liquid or gaseous state. Basic fire fighting norms like fire extinguishers should be sufficient,” dental doctors suggested.
Memo submitted
The IDA, Deccan had recently submitted a memorandum to CEO, Arogyasri Health Care Trust, N. Srikanth, seeking revision of guidelines.
The IDA members pointed out that relaxed guidelines would go a long way in helping patients in rural areas to access dental care locally instead of travelling to bigger towns and cities.
‘Will examine plea’
“Our team of experts are examining the requests made by dental doctors. We have to carefully check the existing guidelines to ascertain whether they are really favouring established hospitals. A decision on guidelines for small dental clinics will be taken at the earliest, said CEO, Arogyasri, Mr. Srikanth.
