The state government has been swamped with objections from the people over the private hospitals overcharging them. The state government is, therefore, planning to set up the income tax department to look into the matter.
Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta had a meeting with the IT officers to discuss the matter. In case the hospitals do not cooperate with the audit of COVID-19 billing, the department can take action against them. Ajoy Mehta has formed a team of five IAS officers to conduct an audit of the private hospitals in Mumbai. The team includes Prashant Narnavare, Madan Nagargoje, Ajit Patil, B Radhakrishnan and Sushil Khodwekar. Each of these IAS officers will be further assisted by municipal officers.
Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope had earlier learned through his hospital rounds that patients have been waiting long hours at private hospitals even when 50 per cent of their beds are vacant. The state government had earlier taken 80 per cent of the general category beds and all the ICU beds in the city’s private health care facilities in order to provide treatment to the patients suffering from the coronavirus. Still, several people have been complaining of non-availability of beds in these hospitals. Therefore, the Maharashtra government had issued show-cause notices to four private hospitals. The four hospitals were Bombay Hospital, Jaslok Hospital, Hinduja Hospital and Lilavati Hospital. Doctor Sudhakar Shinde, state Health Assurance Society head had stated that the hospitals can face action against them if they do not adhere with the order issued by the state government.
The state government has included the treatment of coronavirus under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana. At the same time, private hospitals are charging extremely high amounts from COVID-19 patients or have been unable to provide them with beds. The charges in some of the hospitals for the treatment of coronavirus range from thousands to lakhs of rupees which is exorbitant.
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