Private charitable hospitals turning away poor patients because they don’t have documents may not go down well with the authorities any more.
State Charity Commissioner Shivkumar Dige has issued a diktat to his officers that orphans, migrants and homeless people seeking medical help without documents should not be denied treatment. Instead, medical social workers in the hospitals should step in and conduct preliminary inquiries to ascertain the patient’s economic status.
“While most poor patients do have ration cards and income certificates that help ascertain their economic status, some homeless people, migrants and those who have spent their life in orphanages often lack these documents. We don’t want such patients to be turned away,” said Mr. Dige. The circular issued by Mr. Dige last week has been sent to his officers and will be forwarded to the 425-odd charitable trust hospitals across the State.
Social workers’ role
“When such a patient comes to the hospital, the treatment should be started and the medical social workers should step in to gather more details from the patient. For example, if the patient claims to be an orphan, the social worker should conduct basic checks in the orphanage. If he claims to be homeless, the social worker should visit the area where he has been sleeping and gather more details. But in no instance should treatment be denied,” the circular said.
It also said that the charity commissioner’s office should be informed of such cases. Mr. Dige said the patients can also be guided on how to get the necessary documents.
The rules
Private hospitals run by a trust get various concessions. In return, they have to deposit 2% of their income to an Indigent Patients Fund that they must use to treat patients with annual income less than ₹25,000. The hospitals have to reserve 10% of their beds for these patients. They have to reserve another 10% beds for patients with annual income less than ₹50,000 and provide them treatment and services at concessional rates.
All the poor patient has to do is provide a certificate from the tehsildar, a ration card or a below poverty line card. But there have been plenty of cases of such patients being turned away by the swanky hospitals either with a demand of a hefty deposit or for some other reason. “Due to this, a poor patient gets hassled and eventually lands up at a public hospital,” said Mr. Dige. In September, the commissioner was refused treatment at a Vile Parle hospital he visited pretending to be a poor patient.
Welcome initiative
Tarang Gianchandani, CEO of Jaslok Hospital, says the charity commissioner’s initiative is a good idea. “Since the charity commissioner’s schemes are very strict on documents, we often admit such patients and pay from our own funds. If this new initiative is implemented properly, it will be beneficial for those who often suffer due to lack of documentation,” said Dr. Gianchandani.
