JOIN USEWS patients discharged without complete cure
Patients who are admitted to private hospitals under the economically weaker section category are discharged before the completion of their treatment. This has been brought to the notice of a special committee, formed on the direction of the Delhi High Court.
A meeting of the special committee, held on April 16 and chaired by the principal-secretary of the Delhi government, took cognizance of the matter. It was decided that the doctor of the government hospital referring the patient for treatment to the particular private hospital, would monitor the situation further.
The doctors of the government hospitals who attended the meeting said the poor patients referred by them and other government hospitals are discharged early by the private hospitals.
“In event of not being treated properly, unsatisfied patients come back to the government doctors. Doctors have complained that they are not treated fully," said Ashok Agarwal, lawyer and member of the committee.
It was decided that identified private hospitals must also provide essential drugs for patients taking dialysis services. Many patients on dialysis taken for kidney failure, tend to acquire Hepatitis C, a blood disease. They are refused drugs like erythropoetin which are essential for complete cure.
“If dialysis is being provided for free, then follow-up treatment and medicines also have to be given. But it is not done because for treating Hepatitis C patient has to be administered an injection worth Rs 16,000 every week,” said Agarwal.
It was also pointed out that EWS patients have to pay for outsourced services even though they are functioning from the premises of the same private hospital. A senior member suggested that these services should also be provided free.
Agarwal believes that not just hospitals, but private or charitable dispensaries built on land given at concessional rates should be instructed to provide 25 per cent of total outdoor patient department (OPD) services free-of-cost to eligible EWS
patients.
The principal-secretary suggested that government dispensaries should also be authorised to refer EWS patients for free treatment in identified private hospitals.
The members emphasised on the need for a system to ensure proper communication with aggrieved patients. In addition to a round-the-clock helpline, it was suggested that all government and private hospitals in question should have a dedicated mobile number for nodal officers. The nodal officer who is in-charge at a given time, should carry the mobile with him or her and help the patient.
The committee also agreed upon the need of a help-desk, manned by a sympathetic staff which and placed at a noticeable place.