Mohali admin warns Covid hospitals: Must adhere to government fixed rate caps

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Girish Dayalan said that district administration has received complaints that some hospitals in the district are overcharging the patients.

Mohali administration warned the district hospitals and directed them to stick to the capped rates for Covid-19 treatment as fixed by Punjab government.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Girish Dayalan said that district administration has received complaints that some hospitals in the district are overcharging the patients.

He said that despite the increasing pressure on healthcare facilities, the district administration cannot ignore the patients’ complaints.

“We are duty bound to take action against the defaulters,” said he, adding that a two-member committee comprising the representative of local SDM and the Civil Surgeon will enquire into the complaints and recommend suitable action.

The DC reiterated that patients must not be refused admission for want of an ICU bed. He said that the administration is fully aware that due to spike in Covid-19 cases, ICU Beds in hospitals are operating at full capacity. However, in some hospitals, at times patients are being refused admission for want of an ICU bed even when ward beds with oxygen is available. This could lead to loss of critical time in which the patient could have been administered oxygen and the related care- thereby saving their life.

The Punjab Clinical Establishment Act, 2020, in Section 21 also prevents any hospital from discriminating against Covid patients in accessing admission to the clinical establishment.

“It is therefore advised that hospitals shall not hesitate to admit such patients in a ward with oxygen, with the consent of the patient’s family, while they await an ICU bed,” the DC said.

Stop referrals between L3 hospitals, directs Mohali admin

Mohali administration directed the district’s Covid-19 hospitals to strictly prohibit referrals between L3 facilities, unless there are cogent reasons given in writing by the treating doctor.

DC Girish Dayalan said that the district administration and healthcare personnel are constantly being nagged by the relatives of Covid-19 patients to refer the patients under treatment at one L-3 facility to another L-3 facility of their choice.

He said that Punjab government and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have laid out detailed protocols for treatment of critical care patients and the procedure being followed is more or less uniform at all L-3 facilities, thus, changing the critical care facility without any rhyme or reason will add to undue pressure on hospitals and may also put the patient in jeopardy.

“With the exponential increase in the number of Covid-19 patients from Punjab and others states who are under hospitalisation in the district, there is a need to optimise the available resources to ensure that lives can be saved and patients are treated with the best possible outcome; in such a scenario, “referrals for preferential L-3 facilities is out of question,” the DC said.

Ex-mayor sets up Covid helpline

Former Mayor Kulwant Singh started a helpline for people affected from Covid-19, to help them in getting beds and oxygen cylinders.

Former councillor Phoolraj told The Indian Express that they receive at least 15 distress calls every day. “Right now, we are receiving around 15 calls per day, in the coming days we expect the numbers to rise,” he added. The team had also carried out the sanitation drive last week.

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