CJM seeks details of poor patients at private hospitals

GURUGRAM: The chief judicial magistrate (CJM) of Gurgaon has directed Huda to provide details of treatment given to poor patients by the city’s three leading private hospitals. The direction came in the wake of allegations that these hospitals were denying treatment to patients from the economically weaker section as per the conditions agreed upon at the time of land allotment by Huda.
Huda had in 2008 allotted plots to Medanta in Sector 38, Fortis in Sector 44 and Artemis in Sector 51 on the condition, among others, that they would reserve 20% of the beds for the poor. Also, as per the conditions, these hospitals are expected to provide free treatment to poor patients. But the urban development body has been criticised for failing to enforce the implementation of the policy.

Now, in a letter to the Huda administrator, CJM Narender Singh has raised some pertinent questions — whether private hospitals are maintaining separate registers of poor patients, if the said records are being scrutunised regularly, whether hospitals are submitting the quarterly reports related to treatment of poor patients as per policy etc.

When contacted, Huda administrator Yashpal Yadav told TOI, “The monitoring committee meetings are held on a regular basis and hospitals do submit details.

“However, we will ensure proper and better implementation of the policy.”

In fact, after the controversy over the death of seven-year-old dengue patient Adya Singh and allegations of irregularities and medical negligence against Fortis, the state director-general of health services had in December last year recommended the cancellation of land allotment to the hospital. Acting on the director-general’s directive, Huda’s monitoring committee held a meeting on January 4 to review the implementation of terms and conditions of the land allotment in consonance with the Huda policy, dated August 2008.

In a similar case of Aseem Takyar vs Haryana’s health director, the Punjab and Haryana high court had asked Huda to apprise the court of the medical aid provided by private hospitals to poor patients.

“Huda submitted names of some of the patients before the court in a sealed envelope. In the last hearing on December 15, the HC directed Huda to verify the names of those patients provided by the hospitals and check whether they actually belonged to EWS category,” said Takyar, who had filed the petition.

“The HC had also asked Huda to appoint an administrator at each hospital to ensure that genuine patients received the benefits,” he added.