Dehradun has become a hub of medical colleges, hospitals, specialised clinics and nursing homes over the past couple of decades. This proliferation of medical services is laudable, bringing treatment closer to patients who, otherwise, needed to go to the big cities to obtain treatment even a little above the ordinary. There are also all classes of medical institutions making a mark – government, charitable and private. With the introduction of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, as also the expansion of health insurance, these services have become available to almost all, irrespective of the cost.
All this is very good, but problems do exist for patients that can be fixed only through intelligent regulation by government. From time to time, reports emerge of serious irregularities aimed at scamming the system. The number of doctors, technical and nursing staff, as well as other necessary facilities are faked to obtain approval from the designated authorities. Rates are inflated in connivance with officials, while some hospitals continue to deny services to Ayushman patients. Unimaginative thinking on the part of government ensures that, while money is lost through irregularities, rates are kept unrealistic, ensuring thereby patients’ exclusion from certain hospitals.
The recent case of a teenager, who suffered burn injuries due to electrocution, being denied admission in some of the major government and private hospitals for reasons like lack of a burns unit or unavailability of beds, is indicative of the callousness of hospital managements. Patients of various kinds face this problem on a daily basis. Considering how bad Dehradun traffic has become, anybody facing an emergency cannot be made to waste time rushing from door to hospital door. The pressure on hospitals has become even greater by the fact that patients come in not only from the hills, but also the adjoining districts of neighbouring UP.
The problem is aggravated by almost daily announcements regarding new facilities being added to hospitals, particularly government ones. People choose hospitals in times of need based on expectations raised by such announcements, only to be disappointed on reaching there. Precious time is wasted as a result, making the difference between life and death.
Government needs to create hospital clusters for designated ‘catchment’ areas so that people from there are not turned away. And, if required, are directed to ‘higher centres’ that will admit them, without pleading insufficiency of beds. This chain will ensure accountability and restrict the practice of refusing treatment based on estimations of paying capacity. Delivery should match up with the announcements if a genuine impact is to be made.
