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Govt notices to 25 hospitals for not reserving beds for poor by Pritha Chatterjee

A review found less than 4 per cent beds were occupied by EWS patients at these hospitals; eight facilities rated ‘excellent’

A performance review of the city’s private hospitals has rated 25 facilities as ‘poor’ on compliance of the order for reserving 10 per cent of the total bed strength for patients from economically weaker sections (EWS). The Health department is now in the process of issuing notices to these hospitals.

The move comes two months after the Supreme Court made it mandatory for hospitals, which had received land at subsidised rates from the government, to reserve beds for poor patients.

The review found 25 hospitals as ‘poor’, one ‘satisfactory’, one ‘good’ and one ‘very good’.

“This review is only for the patients admitted by the hospitals, and does not even cover the OPD patients. But the figures show that a majority of hospitals are performing very poorly,” said Dr A K Walia, Delhi Health Minister.

He said the ‘poor’ performers, with less than 4 per cent beds for EWS patients, will be sent notices by next week.

In their defence, most hospitals in the “defaulter” list maintained that they did not get enough patients to meet the SC requirements.

Fortis Escorts Hospital, an “errant” hospital, managed to fill only 1.56 per cent of beds under the EWS category. Dr Raajiv Singhal, Director of Fortis Escorts, blamed the the low rate of referrals from government hospitals. “We are a super-specialty hospital for cardiac problems, so we cannot take patients from other disciplines. We never refuse patients, but if we do not get enough patients to meet the stipulated 10 per cent, we cannot be called defaulters.”

Max Balaji Hospital in Patparganj and Max Janki Devi Memorial Hospital in Saket were also rated ‘poor’. According to a statement from the hospital, “One of our hospitals was inspected as recently as today (Wednesday), and the committee found us compliant on all counts. Most EWS patients coming to avail our services come from the walk-in channel, as the referrals from government hospitals are not so encouraging.”

Hospital authorities at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre in Vasant Kunj, a ‘poor’ performer with an EWS bed occupancy of 2.30 per cent, suggested there was some fault with the data.

“We are a 140-bed hospital, and so our stipulated EWS quota is of 14 beds. At least 9 to 10 beds are always occupied,” said Soni Lakra, contact person for the EWS patients. She said the referrals for spinal injuries from government hospitals was very low.

Authorities at Vasant Kunj-based Rockland Hospital, which reported “zero” patients under this category, said they had not been served a notice yet. The hospital spokesperson said, “We have not received any new notice yet, and would not like to make any comments on the point.”

The Personal Assistant to the Executive Director of Dharamshila Cancer Hospital, also a ‘defaulter’, said no “new” official notice had been sent to the hospital yet.

On the other hand, eight hospitals in the city admitted more than 10 per cent EWS patients, earning the ‘excellent’ tag. These include Venu Eye Institute, which at 28.57 per cent reserved the highest number of beds for poor patients — nearly three times the SC stipulation. Also on the ‘excellent’ list were Bimla Devi Hospital (22.58 per cent), Bhagwati Hospital (21.94 per cent), Jaipur Golden Hospital (19.35 per cent), Balaji Action Hospital (13 per cent), Sunder Lal Jain Memorial Hospital (10.06 per cent), Action Cancer Institute (10.65 per cent) and Pushpawati Singhania Hospital (17 per cent).

Sir Gangaram Hospital’s performance was labelled ‘very good’, for filling 9.77 per cent of its total beds for poor patients.

The hospital that had filled 7 per cent of its beds with poor patients was labelled ‘good’, while a hospital that had 5 per cent EWS admissions was tagged ‘satisfactory’.