Hyderabad: Private hospitals in the city have been told by chartered accountants not to accept Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 notes as it is considered a ‘general offence’. After this strong stand taken by financial advisers, many small nursing homes and 100-bed hospitals in the city are telling patients to pay only in notes of acceptable denominations; else, treatment won’t be offered.
A senior doctor on condition of anonymity said, “The chartered accountants have scared hospital managements. They were threatening us that if we continue to treat patients accepting this money, then we will be inviting the scrutiny by government. They were upset with us for putting up banners saying that the old currency was accepted. But what about patients’ needs?’’
Dr Suresh Goud, senior doctor, said, “We want to help the people but are being told that we will have to show how we have got this money. Hence some of the hospitals have decided to take the notes and also secure a copy of the PAN card and address proof. This is being done so that if there is an income-tax query, we are prepared.” Doctors are in a fix as denying treatment to a patient can lead to medico-legal problems. A senior doctor said, “While emergencies are being attended to there are other cases which require treatment. There is so much of stress that many of us are finding it difficult to do our routine job as this problem is putting us in a fix.”
Some private hospitals have devised a strategy whereby they collect the money and are asking patients to fill up a form detailing the treatment carried out and the cost. These are being kept by the accounts department to tackle any future queries.
Cash vans not in place outside city hospitals:
The Union finance ministry and the RBI have asked all state governments to provide mobile banking vans outside emergency wings of major hospitals, but there is no such facility in the city. Only the Assam government has set up mobile banking vans. Ms G.K. Tulasi, mother of a 10-year-old, said, “I stood from 6 am at the ATM at Mehdipatnam to withdraw Rs 1,000 as I had to take my son, an asthamatic, to the hospital. For our own money we have to toil so much.” Given the problems, people were postponing their hospital visits except in cases of emergency.
