Naval Kishore Ram. (File)
District Collector Naval Kishore Ram on Thursday said the collectorate will be forced to take action against hospitals which do not help patients seeking treatment.
The district collector said he has been getting complaints that private hospitals as well as the civic-run YCM hospital were turning away patients without guiding or directing them to hospitals where beds are available.
“I had said earlier also that patients should first inquire with Sassoon or YCM hospitals. If these two hospitals do not have beds available, it is the duty of these hospitals to help the patient and his relatives find a hospital where a bed is available. The patient and their families should not be made to run from pillar to post. Otherwise, I will have to take action against the officials of the government and civic hospitals,” said the district collector.
On Wednesday, 51-year-old Kutubuddin Shaikh of Aundh Road had complained to the district collector that he and his family members had to visit more than 10 hospitals in both Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad in search of a ventilator bed.
Amir Mulani, a resident of Akurdi, said his 63-year-old father passed away while waiting for a ventilator bed in YCM Hospital last week. “The hospital kept telling me that it will provide plasma therapy to my father once they get a vacant bed. In the meantime, I also called up a few other hospitals but all of them said they cannot help as they had no ventilator beds available,” said Mulani, who has also lodged a complaint with the collectorate.
Dr Rajendra Wable, dean of YCM Hospital and Medical College, said, “We are hard pressed to look after the admitted patients as well as handle the constant flow of patients at the hospital. We do not have a system in place where we can guide the patients and their relatives to find a hospital and ventilator bed. The patients’ relatives have to themselves find another hospital…we do not have enough manpower…”.
The district collector, however, said the YCM Hospital administration was duty-bound to set up a system to guide the patients and their relatives. He said he will take up the issue with Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar.