PIL seeking deployment of govt officials at Swasthya Sathi help desks in pvt hosps filed in High Court

kolkata: In an interesting development, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed at Calcutta High Court saying that a government official must be deployed at Swasthya Sathi help desks of private hospitals to verify documents only to ascertain if the hospitals are admitting patients in those beds meant for Swasthya Sathi or they are hoodwinking people on the pretext of non-availability of bed.

Petitioners alleged that some hospitals are refusing to admit patients under Swasthya Sathi and that they are saying that no beds demarcated against Swasthya Sathi is available.

Unless the hospitals issue any written document to the patients or their family members in case of a

Swasthya Sathi refusal, it becomes extremely difficult to prove that there were available beds at the time of patient refusal.

The petitions therefore moved court to fulfill their demands of deploying a government officer at the Swasthya Sathi desk of each hospital so that they can examine the documents.

The main purpose of the PIL is to ensure that the private hospitals admit patients in all the Swasthya Sathi beds. People have often alleged that many private hospitals are denying Swasthya Sathi patients.

State government and the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) on a number of occasions asked the private hospitals to ensure that not a single case of Swasthya Sathi refusal takes place.

The WBCERC also reminded that it has taken 'zero tolerance' when it comes to Swasthya Sathi refusal.

Incidentally, it may be mentioned here that WBCERC lodged a suo-motu complaint on Monday after some private hospitals, during a sting operation carried out by a private TV channel, allegedly said that they do not accept Swasthya Sathi cards.

State Health department has recently imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 5.31 crore on more than 20 nursing homes and private hospitals across the state for allegedly fudging Swasthya Sathi bills, preparing false bills.

More than 2.30 crore families have been covered under the scheme and 2,290 hospitals have been empanelled. The scheme was announced on February 25 in 2016 and officially launched by the Chief Minister on December 30

in 2016.