Mumbai: A survey by the Medico-Legal Society of India (MLSI) revealed that a huge staff crunch and inadequate infrastructure to treat critical patients are the major reasons for their transfer from small private to state-run hospitals resulting in more deaths at state-run hospitals. It also stressed the need for government intervention to improve these private hospitals if they want people to have faith in government hospitals.
This comes after a series of patient deaths were reported at the government-run hospitals in Nanded, Thane (Kalwa), and Sambhajinagar of Nagpur districts. The MLSI conducted the survey after a government pleader on October 6 informed that the major reason for deaths at the state-run hospitals is that critical patients are being referred to government hospitals from small private hospitals due to lack of necessary health facilities.
Pathetic condition of private hospitals
“Nearly 200 or more small and medium-sized hospitals across Maharashtra participated in the survey. During the survey, MLSI found that the pathetic condition of these private hospitals is one of the major reasons for the increasing number of deaths. The conditions of the hospitals will be improved only after government intervention,” said an official. The violence against the doctors is also one of the reasons for the shortage of the medical practitioners, he added.
Dr Rajeev Joshi, founder of MLSI, said that the motive for conducting the survey was to find out the reasons or issues in treating critical patients in the small private-hospitals.
“The same will be provided to the court and the government, with requests to make changes for improvement in healthcare facilities at small private hospitals. This will solve the problems of transferring patients from small private hospitals and reduce the inconvenience to patients,” Dr Joshi said.
Findings of survey cannot be neglected: Official
A senior health official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the findings of the survey cannot be neglected as it reveals the truth about the private hospitals which have only started for making a profit and are not concerned about patients' health. The incidence of deaths that took place this year happens every year but does not come out.
“The government actually needs to take some action or measures for improving these facilities. Moreover, most of them are connected to some big people or politicians due to which actions are not taken against them,” he said.
Findings in the MSLI Survey:
* Inadequate staff
* Small hospitals may be run by a husband-wife team in their own specialty
* Small hospitals avoid the risk of death as deaths can lead to ruckus, damage to property, and violence
* No legal protection from violence for the doctors in small hospitals
* Financial support required for developing infrastructure
