Mumbai: The state govt should amend the Maharashtra Nursing Homes Registration Act (MNHRA) Rules so that charity trust-run and private hospitals cannot demand deposits as a pre-condition for starting treatment, said a group of health NGOs on World Health Day on Monday.
The govt should also regulate the cost of healthcare in private hospitals, said the Jan Arogya Abhiyan while reacting to Pune resident Tanisha Bhise’s death. Incidentally, the focus of this year’s World Health Day is on reducing maternal and infant deaths.
Bhise’s family took her to Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital on March 28, due to her complicated pregnancy, but the hospital demanded a deposit of Rs 10 lakh. The family then took her to Sassoon Hospital, and then to Surya Hospital, where she delivered premature twin girls via Caesarean section. She was transferred to Manipal Hospital but passed away on March 31.
Stating that the incident is “deeply distressing”, JAA said that “demanding of huge advance by DMH, and not proceeding with her treatment unless the advance was deposited” is unacceptable.
JAA’s Dr Abhay Shukla said, “Initiation of treatment should not be denied by hospitals to any patient due to their inability to pay a deposit. The Maharashtra Nursing Homes Registration Act (MNHRA) Rules must be amended to include this directive as a mandatory provision.”
The govt should regulate treatment costs in private hospitals. “This should be done through the introduction of an appropriately designed Maharashtra Clinical Establishments Act, an earlier draft version for this act is pending since 2014,” said the JAA release. JAA also wants the charity commissioner and the state govt to take steps to ensure that trust hospitals reserve 20% of their beds (10% for free care and another 10% beds at concessional rates) for the economically needy.
The state govt had, under the MNHRA Rules 2021, made it mandatory for all hospitals in Maharashtra to implement the Patient Rights Charter and prominently display a list of key rates of services. “However, very few hospitals follow these rules,” said the doctors.
All districts and cities are required to establish grievance redressal cells to address complaints by patients related to private hospitals. Each hospital has to display the contact details for these grievance cells, but inspections by JAA and patients’ rights groups have revealed that most private hospitals fail to display either the Patient Rights Charter or their indicative rates of services.
