Charitable hospitals in Pune provided free and discount treatment worth ₹ 95.2 crore
Dr H K Sale, chairman of the Association of Hospitals in Pune, claims that the IPF scheme at Charitable Hospital is benefiting the rich instead of the needy and eligible patients
Last year, charitable hospitals in Pune districts spent ₹ 95.2 crore on treating patients free or at discounted rates under the Indigent Patients Fund (IPF) scheme. However, many such hospitals couldn’t utilise all their funds due to patients’ preferences, said the officials.
Dr H K Sale, chairman of the Association of Hospitals in Pune, claims that the IPF scheme at Charitable Hospital is benefiting the rich instead of the needy and eligible patients.
“Several hospitals have noticed a new trend in which ineligible patients are getting admitted to Charitable hospitals as paying patients for treatment. While receiving treatment, they present documents claiming to be eligible for the scheme and free treatment. With the help of politicians and officials, they pressure the hospitals to provide free treatment and even demand a refund for the money they had initially paid despite being ineligible,” he said.
District collector Jitendra Dudi, who is also head of the district monitoring committee for Charitable Hospitals, said that there is a preference amongst the patients who want specific hospitals due to which funds of some hospitals get exhausted and their IPF account goes into negative balance. However, even if they are in negative balance, they cannot refuse treatment to needy patients,” he said.
As per the officials, there are 58 charitable hospitals in Pune, 74 in Mumbai and 468 across the rest of the state.
In the Pune district last year, as many as 86,826 patients were provided free and discounted treatment under the IPF scheme by Charitable Hospitals. Between 1 January and 31 December 2024, as many as ₹ 81.8 crore were deposited in the IPF account by all 58 charitable hospitals. However, the hospitals together provided treatment worth ₹ 95.2 crore, i.e., ₹ 13.4 crore more than they were supposed to spend, said the officials.
The Indigent Patients Fund (IPF) scheme, framed by the Bombay High Court (HC) and rolled out in September 2006, all charitable hospitals in the state allocate two per cent of their gross billing to help indigent or economically weak patients. This aid has to be in the form of free treatment to those with an annual income below ₹ 1.8 lakh and at 50 per cent discounted billing for patients whose family’s annual income does not exceed ₹ ₹ 3.6 lakh. Charitable hospitals get FSI, concessions in water, power, customs, sales and income taxes, amongst other benefits.
Dudi further informed that last year, 34 complaints were received against the charitable hospitals, and all have been resolved.
“Patients and kin in case of any complaints regarding the charitable Hospitals, can approach the Joint Charity commissioner Pune or district collector office with their complaints,” he said.
The State government last year (April) established a Special Help Cell and district-level committees (November) to monitor the reserved beds and implementation of the IPF scheme at charitable hospitals in the state. These changes were made to monitor the successful implementation of the IPF scheme to increase transparency and ensure that poor patients receive free and subsidized treatment under the system.
According to government data, after the system was made online, in 2024, 10,040 patients were allotted beds online, with ₹9.40 crore spent on their treatment in the state. Officials report no formal complaints this year, except for one against Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, Pune, during which a notice was issued to the hospital, said officials.
Rameshwar Naik, head of the Special Help Cell, Maharashtra, said some hospitals reportedly fail to even display their charitable status or inform patients of their entitlements. Due to this, we have established a district-level committee to monitor the IPF scheme. “There are preferences due to which there is a load on some hospitals and their funds get exhausted. We don’t want injustice either to the hospital or the patients. Soon we will make mode changes in the scheme for better implementation,” he said.