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Apr 14
All hospitals may have to serve poor
Hospitals registered under the Companies Act may soon have to treat poor patients free of cost. The state government is contemplating an amendment to the act which offers liberty to a private hospital to charge such patients for treatment.

"Some hospitals get registration under the Bombay Public Trusts Act and avail facilities, including cheap land, from the government. Later they change their registration under the Companies Act. Once registered under this act, it is not mandatory for them to offer poor patients treatment free or at concessional rates.

To stop this there is a need to amend the act," minister of state for law and judiciary, Bhaskar Jadhav, said in the legislative council on Tuesday.

Healthcare activists, however, are sceptical about the government's powers to make purely private hospitals follow its dictat. "Companies Act is a parliamentary act. The government cannot amend the act as it does not have the power to do so," said Dr Arun Bal, president, association for consumers action on safety and health. If a hospital has not taken any concessions then it cannot be asked to treat poor patients free of cost, he added. Advocate and healthcare activist Ravi Duggal concurred.

The issue of free treatment to the poor was in the limelight a few days ago when the state legislative council decided to summon the chief executive officer of Jaslok Hospital, Manesh Masand, before it for allegedly refusing to disclose papers related to such treatment. Jaslok Hospital is registered under the Trusts Act.

Jadhav was replying to a calling attention motion raised by the Shiv Sena's Deepak Sawant over the performance of charity hospitals. Sawant alleged that the big hospitals fabricate the records of treating poor patients with the help from officials at the office of the charity commissioner.

Jadhav announced an inquiry into Sawant's allegation. "We will check the records at the hospitals since 2008 and verify whether the records were fabricated. The guilty will face action," he said.

The minister said the hospitals which do not treat poor patients free of cost will invite harsher punishment. At present, there is a provision of three months imprisonment and a fine of Rs20,000. "We will make the punishment harsher," he added.

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