Maharashtra health dept gets 22 complaints against hospitals

Dr Satish Pawar, director of Directorate of Health Services, said they have trained counsellors of the toll-free numbers to tackle the issues

Within 17 hours of launching a helpline for those facing difficulties in paying bills at hospitals, the state has received more than 22 complaints.

12 of the 22 complaints were resolved, said Dr Satish Pawar, DHS director. (HT Photo)

Dr Satish Pawar, director of Directorate of Health Services, said they have trained counsellors of the toll-free numbers (104 and 108), which were earlier used for blood-on-call services and emergency ambulance services, to tackle the issues. “Both the lines became active from 6pm on Sunday. Until 11am on November 14, we received 22 complaints and resolved 12 of them,” said Pawar, adding in the remaining cases, the surgeon concerned is coordinating with the head of the hospitals.

He said on receiving a complaint, the counsellors get in touch with the hospital authorities and inform them about chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ appeal on accepting cheques and not refusing patients in emergency situations. “If the issue is still not resolved, the case is sent to civil surgeon, who then gets in touch with the head of the hospital and notifies them about possible action,” said Pawar. If necessary, the patients are moved to the nearest government hospitals.

“With private hospitals having a right to refuse patients over currency, they will start referring the patients to government hospitals to avoid any controversy,” said an officer from the department.