Hyderabad: An audit of the number of poor patients being treated in private hospitals on a concessional basis is not carried out by the Telangana state government as there is no assessment at the district office level of these services.
The recent Supreme Court order directing private hospitals to treat 25 per cent out-patients and 10 per cent in-patients for free has now made it necessary to keep tabs on the private hospitals to monitor whether they are following the Supreme Court ruling.
A senior health officer on condition of anonymity explained, “When lands were allotted to hospitals, there were different clauses they had to fulfil. Treating poor patients for free was one of them. But whether hospitals have honoured his clause or not is not known as there is no documentation.” There was no clarity on who will assess whether the clauses were being followed or not as the land was given by land and revenue department and follow-up of health activities had to be carried out by the health department.
According to sources in the health department, “The land that was given at a concessional price was during the time of united AP. There is no such activity of assessment seen hence we do not know if there was any evaluation done.”
The order of the SC comes as a relief for the poor patients. But identifying the poor patients at the hospital level is not easy. Dr Narsinga Reddy, president of Telangana Medical Association explained, “With the Aarogyasri scheme in place, there were Aarogyasri cards which helped to identify those below the poverty line. But actually at the hospital level, checking the ration card or Aadhaar card and verifying a poor or rich patient is not possible.” The job of identification is that of the government and they must tell who has to be given treatment.
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