Private hospitals must reserve 10% beds for free care of referral patients

Kolkata: Private hospitals in Bengal must set aside 10% of their beds for free treatment, investigations and medicines for patients to be referred from govt hospitals, in case they did not have adequate berths in those state facilities, said health minister Sharadwat Mukherjee on Thursday. The health department will launch a toll-free helpline number in a few days for citizens, where they will get details of the services.

Mukherjee held an administrative meeting with representatives of private hospitals at Swasthya Bhavan on Thursday, when this proposal was mooted and discussed. “Private hospitals in and around the city have agreed to reserve 10% beds for free treatment, investigations, medicines and other services for patients, who will be referred by govt hospitals,” said Mukherjee, who held the meeting after taking charge as the new health minister on Wednesday.

“For patients visiting govt hospitals, they will be provided services there if beds are available. In case beds are not available at the state hospitals, those patients will be referred to the nearest private healthcare facility, where they will also get free treatment under this scheme,” Mukherjee said.

Earlier, the govt had reiterated that all private hospitals, which received free land for their establishments, should continue to follow the earlier directive and reserve 15% of their beds for free treatment.

While some private hospitals agreed to keep 10% beds aside for govt hospital referrals, some others claimed it was “not fair”. “As private hospitals admit patients under various govt health schemes, we already cater to patients who need free treatment. An additional 10% would be a burden on us. We need more clarity on this scheme,” said the head of a private hospital.

The MD of another private hospital said those who bought land from the market and did not avail of any govt concession should not be painted with the same brush as those who received free plots for their healthcare facilities.

Mukherjee said those patients who would enrol themselves for the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, they would only need to show their Aadhaar cards at hospitals to get free treatment. “There will be no need to show any other card. Only the Aadhaar card will have to be furnished at a hospital to establish a patient’s identity,” the health minister said.

The health minister further added that every district in Bengal would have at least one medical college and hospital. “Currently, there is no medical college in four districts. New ones will be established there,” Mukherjee said.