VISAKHAPATNAM: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (
CBDT
)’s latest notification allowing private hospitals to accept cash in excess of Rs 2 lakh for emergent Covid-19 treatment will regularise exploitation by private hospitals, said former
Union energy secretary EAS Sarma
.
In a letter to the Union government, Sarma said every private
hospital
should make a disclosure to the income tax department of the cash received, details of patients from whom it has been received and in which bank the money is deposited.
He suggested surprise inspections at 20 per cent of the private hospitals randomly chosen to find cash on the spot, details of the patients treated, feedback from patients who were treated etc. to ascertain the extent of the cash accounted for and the extent not accounted for.
If there are errant private hospitals found to have received unaccounted for cash from Covid patients, impose heavy, deterrent penalties. Repeat offenders should be treated as those violating the money laundering law and prosecuted, he added.
Sarma said that CBDT is unaware of how several private hospitals are fleecing Covid patients. The
latest CBDT notification
would only strengthen their hands further in exploiting Covid patients who are in search of hospital beds, essential Covid drugs like Remdesivir, ICU facilities and oxygen, he said.
The latest CBDT notification merely regularises the exploitation by the private hospitals further, unless supporting measures are taken simultaneously, Sarma said.