Private charitable hospitals in Mumbai misuse the special facilities meant for the poor.
IN AUGUST, THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR General (CAG) of India conducted an audit of 11 top private charitable hospitals in Mumbai run by trusts for the years 2012-15. Its scrutiny of records exposed a system that misused the special facilities that such hospitals were meant to offer to the indigent and those below the poverty (BPL) line.
The Bombay Public Trusts Act (BPTA), 1950, states: “The Charitable Trust Hospital shall be under legal obligation to reserve and earmark 10 per cent of the total number of operational beds for indigent patients and provide medical treatment to the indigent patients free of cost and reserve and earmark 10 per cent of the total number of operational beds at concessional rate to the weaker section patients as per the provisions of section 41AA of the BPT Act. The Charitable Hospitals shall physically transfer 2 per cent of the total patients’ billing (excluding the bill of indigent and weaker section patients) in each month to IPF [Indigent Patients Fund] Account.”
In exchange, the hospitals were offered a variety of concessions—such as lower rates of import for medical equipment, land on long lease at low rates, subsidies in utility bills and income tax waivers. Some were even granted additional Floor Space Index (FSI) if they allocated 20 per cent of the total operational beds to BPL patients.
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