Kolkata government tightens Swasthya Sathi norms for hospitals
Times of India | 2 July 2024
KOLKATA: The state health department has introduced two checklists to ensure judicious use of Swasthya Sathi, Bengal govt's universal health scheme. The latest advisory from Swasthya Sathi Samiti discourages hospitals from prolonged hospital treatment for common medical issues and from adding other surgeries, apart from the primarily planned one.
According to the advisory, hospital stay of a Swasthya Sathi patient for common medical management beyond 10 days has to be referred to its medical audit team to check if the prolonged treatment was necessary at all.A state health official said hospitals often kept back patients with general medical issues for over 10 days, which was not always required. It not only added to medical bills but also put the patients at higher risk of contracting infection from the hospital, the official said. "Most of these unnecessary prolonged hospital stays for Swasthya Sathi patients come from smaller nursing homes in the periphery. From now on, if a patient needs hospital stay for more than 10 days for common medical management, the hospital has to notify us with reasons. Our medical team will audit and see if it is justified," said the official.
He added that there could be genuine cases, especially for patients with comorbidity, but it could not be true for all. "The genuine cases will be considered once our medical team is satisfied with the doctors' explanation. We had to introduce this double-layer check to discourage foul play," said the official.
The allocation under Swasthya Sathi scheme for medical management is Rs 3,000 a day per patient. "We have always been informed in case a Swasthya Sathi patient requires a longer hospital stay. We welcome such scrutiny for ensuring judicial utilisation of govt fund," said Peerless Hospital CEO Sudipta Mitra.
Health officials also have come across instances of claims for additional surgical procedures, apart from the primary surgery for which a package is blocked. This, too, will not be allowed, inviting action against the doctors and hospitals concerned.
"Both the decisions are welcome. Hospitals should not exploit govt resources. If longer hospital stay is justified or an additional surgery is required, there is a need to follow a process," said Rupak Barua, MD & CEO Woodlands Multispecialty Hospital and the president of AHEI (Association of Hospitals of Eastern India).