State takes charge of 10% charity beds in trust hospitals

The state medical education department in Mumbai will take charge of the 10% charity beds reserved at trust hospitals to ensure transparency in the process. A committee has been formed to manage the reservation of beds instead of the hospitals themselves. This decision comes after complaints from patients about the non-availability of concession beds and lack of transparency in the allotment process. The committee will include representatives from the directorate of medical education and research and the charity commissioner.

Mumbai: The state medical education department has decided to take charge of the 10 % charity beds reserved at trust hospitals like Lilavati, Breach Candy, Jaslok, and HN Reliance Foundation Hospital. A committee has been formed to take charge of reserving the beds instead of the hospitals, which will ensure transparency in the process.

HT Image

In a government resolution (GR) issued on June 5 by the medical education and research department, the decision was taken after several complaints received from patients regarding the non-availability of concession beds in these hospitals and the transparency involved in the allotment process.

The state has more than 400 charity hospitals, and they are supposed to reserve 20% of the beds for patients who cannot afford basic healthcare out of which 10% of the beds are free of charge for patients who are below poverty line (BPL).

“The committee will have representatives of the directorate of medical education and research and charity commissioner. The idea behind having the committee is to ensure poor patients get the benefits, officials from the charity commissioner’s office said. “Earlier, it was mandatory for the administration of charitable trust hospitals to send periodical reports of the number of beds for both indigenous and indigent patients. Most of the time, the reports were not sent”.

A medical education officer said that hospitals will upload the status of 20% of the beds on the portal on a real-time basis. “There will be coordinators present in the hospital, and the committee will ensure transparency in the process,” said the official.

For Mumbai, JJ Hospital will be the nodal point of the committee which will allot the charitable beds of hospitals in the city.

“It is a step forward to strengthening the healthcare for poor patients. The challenge will be if they can implement and monitor it. In the past, these beds have been misused because of poor monitoring systems,” Ravi Duggal, a public health researcher and activist, said.