New Delhi : Notice to private hospital for denying free treatment

New Delhi: Delhi government on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to a prominent private hospital in southwest Delhi for allegedly charging a road accident victim for treatment.

Purushottam Sharma, the uncle of the victim, had submitted a complaint to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that Venkateshwar Hospital charged Rs 2 lakh for treating his nephew who met with an accident last week.

“The hospital admitted my nephew but refused to treat him under the government scheme that entitles free treatment to road accident victims, saying that he had been referred from another hospital,” Sharma alleged. A senior official in the state health department said the CM has taken strong exception to the violation of government order that mandates free treatment to accident victims.

“There are clear orders from the Supreme Court and Delhi high court mandating private hospitals not to refuse treatment to accident victims. Additionally, our government has come up with a scheme wherein the cost of treatment of such patients in a private hospital is reimbursed, regardless of the amount involved,” the official said.

The hospital has been asked to reply to the notice within a month why its registration should not be cancelled for violation of the government order.

“This is the first such notice for violation of the free treatment scheme. Similar action will be taken against other violators if complaints are found genuine,” an official said.

Gunjan Sinha, the chief operating officer of Venkateshwar Hospital, told TOI they were yet to receive the show-cause notice. “We cannot comment on the allegation without looking at the notice,” Sinha said. She added that in the last year, the hospital has provided free treatment to more than 130 road accident victims. “We have taken up cases that involved severe head injuries, orthopaedic injuries and treated such patients for free,” she said.

The provision to provide cashless treatment to medico-legal victims of road accident, acid attacks and thermal burn injuries in any nursing home or private hospital was introduced in February last year. Till June 30, 2,939 (2398 road accident victims and one acid attack victim) people have benefitted from the scheme, according to government data.