COVID 19 Treatment: Mumbai top 4 hospitals issued notices after surprise visit

Mumbai : Maharashtra Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope paid a surprise visit to the hospitals on Tuesday, a show cause notice has been issued to four private hospitals after they were found not following the COVID 19 guidelines with regards to the treatment.

He said that the notices have been issued to Bombay, Jaslok, Hinduja and Lilavati Hospitals for not following the rules issued for the treatment of COVID-19 patients; he also assured strict action against the hospitals not following the rules and regulations.

The surprise visit was planned after complaints from several people on how the private hospitals were not co-operating with the patients after 80 per cent of the beds were taken over by the government in view of the COVID-19 crisis.

An official statement said, "Tope paid visits to these hospitals on late Monday night after receiving complaints that some private hospitals were denying beds or citing no vacancy (of beds) to patients."

He was accompanied by state health assurance society CEO Sudhakar Shinde during the random visit, it said.

The official statement mentioned that Bombay Hospital did not had a display board on availability of beds as it was asked by the health department to mandatorily put up.

At other hospitals, the rate card for the treatment of diseases as set by the government were not put up.

The minister instructed the hospitals to not deny beds to patients, to give timely treatment to them and cooperate with the government in tackling the crisis, it added.