Revealing information obtained through the RTI Act on the functioning of Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme, an activist has pointed out several lapses, financial loss to exchequer due to lack of accountability and how a number of private hospitals had benefitted more from the scheme than government institutions.
Presenting the data furnished by the Health and Family Welfare department officials, Anand Raj, an RTI activist, and People’s Watch Executive Director Henry Tiphagne said on Thursday that only 83 out of 240 hospitals situated in taluks had benefitted under the scheme.
When many private hospitals made good money, it was not the case with government hospitals. In as many as 18 government hospitals, earnings from the scheme depleted year after year, while it crossed Rs 1400 crore for private hospitals in the last five years, they said.
Inquiries by the activist and his team with doctors in government hospitals suggested that they had referred patients to private hospitals for a number of reasons. For instance, in taluk-level hospitals, there were no specialists like anaesthetists. Similarly, the infrastructural facilities for performing complicated surgeries were inadequate.
Hence, officials in the Health and Family Welfare Department had introduced incentives for doctors and para-medical staff in government hospitals.
Though welcome, the hospitals did not have sufficient facilities, Mr. Anandraj said and recalled the fate of a 32-year-old woman Sitalakshmi of Kanyakumari district, who slipped into coma and died after eight months, following a complication. The revelation indicated that the taluk hospital in Kuzhithurai did not have ventilator or other gadgets in the post-operative ward. Likewise, another patient, Chellam of Alagapuripatti in Madurai district, who underwent surgery at Melur taluk hospital, died on August 21, 2013, due to absence of experienced surgeons.
Keeping in mind the cash incentives, government hospitals with lesser bed strength in districts such as Ramanathapuram and Vellore had performed more number of surgeries, while those with higher number of beds and adequate infrastructure had not risen up to the occasion, thus raising a question on the accountability of doctors in 30 government hospitals situated in towns such as Hosur, Vriddhachalam, Bhavani and Gudiyatham, the data revealed.
Thanjavur last
With 1,008 beds, Ramanathapuram government hospital emerged on top in the insurance scheme in 2014 by earning Rs. 5 crore and the Thanjavur Government Hospital, with 1,067 beds, was ranked last as it had earned a meagre Rs 67 lakh.
Hospitals with limited infrastructure should be instructed not to ‘experiment’ with poor patients’ lives, the activist appealed to the government. Mr. Tiphagne mooted social audit. In the event of death of a patient who had taken the insurance scheme, post-mortem should be mandatory as the legal heirs could get compensation.
