Notice issued to three hospitals for not adhering to govt. direction

Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Nitesh Patil has issued show-cause notice to three hospitals in Dharwad district for not adhering to the government’s direction on earmarking 50% of beds in private hospitals and for giving wrong information on COVID-19 patients.

According to a press release issued by the Deputy Commissioner, in a meeting on April 15, all private hospitals in the district had been asked to earmark 50% of beds for treatment of COVID-19 patients. However, three hospitals of Hubballi, Shakuntala Memorial Hospital and Research Centre, Hubballi Super Specialty Hospital and Tatwadarsha Hospital, had violated the government order, he said.

Consequently, these three hospitals had been issued show-cause notice under the provisions of Epidemic Disease Act 1897 and Disaster Management Act 2005 seeking reply within 24 hours, he said.

Shakuntala Memorial Hospital had informed the district administration that it had earmarked 75 beds for COVID-19 patients and that 31 COVID-19 patients were being treated. However, when the District Health Officer visited the hospital on April 25, it was found that only six such patients were being treated and the remaining 25 were being treated as COVID-19 patients though they had not tested positive for the infection, he said.

Similarly, in the Hubballi Super Specialty Hospital, where 26 beds have been earmarked for COVID-19 patients, only six COVID-19 positive patients were being treated instead of 26 patients as the district administration had been informed.

In Tatwadarsha Hospital, where 75 beds have been earmarked for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, in-patients had been admitted as COVID-19 patients without having proper test reports, Mr. Patil said in the release.

The Deputy Commissioner has said that as per the government direction, the hospitals should display tariff board for COVID-19 treatment. However, when the District Health Officer visited these hospitals, clear violation of the government direction was noticed and these hospitals had given wrong information to the district administration on the number of positive patients being treated, Mr. Patil said in the release.

Through the notice, the district administration has sought complete details of COVID-19 positive patients and also sought a reply on non-display of tariff for the information of the public. Failure to provide proper reply would result in legal action, the Deputy Commissioner said in the notice served to the three hospitals.

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