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HC: No need to submit income certificate to avail free Covid treatment
The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday ruled that Covid-19 patients will not be required to produce income certificates to avail of free treatment at charitable hospitals.
The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday ruled that Covid-19 patients will not be required to produce income certificates to avail of free treatment at charitable hospitals. The ruling also included directions to a charitable hospital in Mumbai to deposit the amount charged to seven slum-dwellers from Bandra for Covid-19 treatment, with the court.
The bench of justice RD Dhanuka and justice Madhav Jamdar refused to accept the argument advanced on behalf of KJ Somaiya Hospital and Research Centre, that to avail free treatment the patient is required to produce a threshold income certificate issued either by the tehsildar or social welfare officer.
“We are not inclined to accept the submission made on behalf of respondent No 1 [Somaiya Hospital] that unless such certificate is produced by the petitioners at the threshold, the respondent No 1 is not liable to admit any such patient under those categories in the precarious situation prevailing at the date of admission of the petitioners,” said the bench.
The court was hearing a petition filed by seven slum-dwellers from Bharat Nagar in Bandra (West), alleging that the hospital, run by a charitable trust, had charged exorbitant amounts for treating them for Covid-19.
In the petition filed through advocate Vivek Shukla, the patients said they had been admitted to the charitable hospital between April 11 and 28 for Covid-19 treatment, but instead of getting free treatment, they were collectively charged ₹10.06 lakh.
Acting on the petition, the court had earlier called for a report from the charity commissioner, Maharashtra. On Friday, the bench noticed that the report submitted was based only on the documents called for and submitted by the hospital, and was filed without visiting the premises and inspecting the records.
Against this backdrop, the court on Friday directed the charitable hospital to deposit the sum of ₹10.06 lakh with the court in two weeks.
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