Pune hospital indicted in woman's death case

A government committee has indicted Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital (DMH) in Pune for prima facie violating norms by demanding a Rs 10 lakh deposit from a pregnant woman, noting that hospitals are obligated to provide emergency treatment, irrespective of the patient's financial capacity.

The woman died at another facility two days after DMH allegedly denied her admission in the last week of March.

The panel has recommended action against DMH by the Charity Commissioner.

The four-member committee, headed by the state health department Joint Director Dr Radhakishan Pawar, stated that the medical facility prima facie violated norms that prohibited charitable hospitals from demanding advance payments in emergency cases.

The panel submitted its report to the Pune Police on Monday.

Tanisha Bhise, wife of the personal secretary of BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe, was allegedly refused admission at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital over non-payment of a Rs 10 lakh deposit. She died at another facility after giving birth to twin daughters.

Amid outrage over the incident and protests, the state government last week ordered an inquiry by a committee under the joint director of the state health department.

"As per the scheme to be followed by charitable hospitals for effective implementation of the Bombay Public Trust Act, in an emergency, they must admit the patient immediately and provide essential medical facilities for life-saving emergency treatment till stabilisation," the Pawar committee report said.

It pointed out that a charitable hospital should not ask for a deposit in case of admission of an emergency patient.

The report stated that the DMH violated these norms, and a recommendation has been made to the Charity Commissioner to take action.

According to DMH, the patient was on its premises for five-and-a-half hours and left without informing the management.

The panel cited the Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration Act underlining the hospital's obligation to provide 'golden hours treatment' without thinking about the patient's financial capability.

"It is also imperative for the hospital to arrange transportation of the patient to the referred hospital for further treatment. However, the said norms have been violated," the panel noted in the report.

DMH medical director Dr Dhananjay Kelkar cited the hospital's SOP to claim that doctors never ask for deposits from patients.

He was clueless about why the doctor (Ghaisas) wrote Rs 10 lakh on the form that day.

Dr Kelkar said the hospital has not yet received the report of the Pawar committee.

"There are a total of three reports. Once all the reports are received, we will study them. It would be appropriate to comment on them later," he told reporters.

Queried on the Maternal Mortality Report, he said a meeting was held at Pune Municipal Corporation's health department. "Let the government respond about it".

Asked about the hospital's Standard Operating Procedures regarding deposits, Dr Kelkar claimed doctors at DMH never ask for deposits from patients.

"We have a printed form which is given to every patient, on which doctors write the name of the patient, name of the doctor, whether surgeries are required or not, and the estimated expenses. There is a system of mentioning the deposit amount on the form, but I have no idea what prompted the doctor to write Rs 10 lakh in the box (of the form) that day," he said.

Dr Kelkar said he has performed numerous surgeries but never written a deposit amount on the form.

"In select cases, depending on the complexity, deposits used to be taken, but the hospital has now decided not to ask for deposits in emergency cases," he added.

Dr Kelkar reiterated that the current situation could have been avoided had the relatives of the patient approached the hospital administration instead of taking the patient away.

"They were only talking to the doctor's OPD, grew angry, and left the hospital," he said.  -- PTI