Maharashtra Govt Sets Up Special Panel To Monitor Facilities In Charitable Hospitals

The Maharashtra government is setting up district-level committees and has formed a special cell to monitor the implementation of the Indigent Patients Fund (IPF). The government is also ensuring that poor patients receive good and subsidised treatment.

The government took this step after a senior government official stated that they received several patient complaints about inconvenience in availing the scheme's benefits. As per the government officials, there is no transparency in running the scheme through the charitable hospitals across the state.

A senior government official said that the new committee and cell will try to address the complaints and solve all the issues faced by patients to avail benefits of the scheme. This initiative will be very critical and will help the economically weaker and backward section to get medical treatment at the charitable hospitals.

The district collectors will be in-charge of the district-level committees. The committees will have elected members, a joint charity commissioner, a dean of a medical college, and a civil surgeon.

There are 74 charitable hospitals in Mumbai, 58 in Pune, and many more in different cities of Maharashtra. These charitable hospitals get FSI, concessions in water, power, power, customs, sales, and income taxes. These charitable hospitals are obliged to provide free and discounted treatment to needy patients under the IPF scheme.

An official stated that the state cell will monitor and help needy patients get a bed and good treatment at charitable hospitals. The government will be monitoring real-time bed occupancy and effective implementation of the IPF scheme.

To guarantee that charity beds reserved at the trust hospitals throughout Maharashtra are monitored, a committee was established by the state public health department in July of this year. A quarter-final audit of the hospitals' IPF spending was also mandated to the committee. Inspection of the medical records and invoices of patients from the less advantaged segments of society fell under the watchful eye of another body.

These actions were implemented in response to numerous complaints from patients who were not receiving beds reserved for them in charitable hospitals to the Public Health Department and the Charity Commission. The patients who were impacted had requested assistance and close monitoring.

The government grants numerous incentives to trust hospitals like Lilavati, Jaslok, Nanavati, Bombay Hospital, and HN Reliance, among others, in exchange for reserving 20% of their beds for underprivileged patients. 10% of these beds are treated at a 50% discount, and the remaining 10% of beds are provided free of charge to patients who fall below the federal poverty level (BPL). However, the Charity Commission frequently discovers that the hospitals are breaking the law.

A government regulation mandates that all charitable institutions set aside 20% of their beds for low-income or poor patients. 10% of these are given at a 50% discount, while patients who fall below the poverty line are not charged for the remaining amounts.

Charitable Hospitals In Mumbai:

1. The Bhatia General Hospital, Grant Road, Mumbai

2. The B.D. Petit Parsee Gen. Hospital, Cumballa Hill, Mumbai

3. Bombay Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Marine Lines, Mumbai

4. Breach Candy Hospital, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai

5. Dhanwantari Hospital and Research Centre, Dadar (West), Mumbai

6. ST. Elizabeth Hospital, Malabar Hill, Mumbai

7. Smt. Kamaladevi Gauridutt Mittal Hospital Charni Road, Mumbai

8. K.B. Haji Bachooali Charitable Hospital, Parel, Mumbai

9. Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai

10. Lilavati Hospital And Research Centre, Bandra, Mumbai

11. Nanavati Max Super Specialty Hospital, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai

12. Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre, Girgaon, Mumbai