Pvt hosps cannot deny patient without primary treatment: Regulatory body
Kolkata: West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) has issued a strong instruction to all the private hospitals asking them to ensure that not a single patient is transferred to another hospital without preliminary treatment during the festive season.
If a private hospital has no vacant beds at that particular moment it has to provide information to the patient party where they would get a vacant bed so that the patient and his/her family members do not face any harassment. The decision has been so that people do not face any difficulties to admit their near and dear ones to the hospitals during the puja days. The WBCERC in recent few incidents have observed that many private hospitals have denied treatment to the patients and they were eventually shifted to other hospitals. There were instances where the patient was shuttled from hospital to another but no admission was secured.
The Commission has therefore given a clear instruction that all the private hospitals have to provide primary treatment to the patients. If they do not have adequate beds they have to ensure that the patients get beds in another hospital. It is not always possible for the patient or their family members to know they would get a vacant bed.
The Commission has also asked various private hospitals to increase the number of beds during the festival season. The senior officials of the Commission held a meeting with the representatives from the 30 private hospitals on Monday. It was learnt that a total 500 beds may be increased in the private hospitals before puja. Among the 500 beds a large number of beds would be ICU beds.
All the private hospitals have also been instructed that no health establishment would be allowed to charge a patient bed charge twice within 24 hours. If a patient is admitted at around 6 am on a particular day the bed charges for the second day would be applicable after 6 am of the next day. Meanwhile, the commission has already issued a clear guideline capping the charges of the private ambulances.
