By Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: Christian Mission Hospitals in Bangalore have been at the forefront in battling the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their compassionate service has come at a huge cost with compelling issues cropping up recently and hindering smooth functioning of these hospitals.
On Monday, a delegation led by Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, Archbishop of Bangalore, and President, All Karnataka United Forum for Human Rights met the Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar and submitted a copy of the memorandum addressed to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddiyurappa over issues affecting the Christian Hospitals. Others who were part of the delegation were Rev. Dr. Paul Parathazham, Director, St John’s Medical College & Hospital; Sr. Gracy Thomas, Sister Superior, St Martha’s Hospital; Sr. K Elizabeth, Chief Administrator, St Philomena’s Hospital, Dr Naveen Thomas, Director & CEO, Baptist Hospital and Sr. Shanthi Lawrence SMMI, Superior, St. Theresa’s Hospital.
When the COVID-19 struck the state earlier this year, the Christian Mission Hospitals joined hands with the State Government to unitedly fight the pandemic by deploying its resources into action thereby serving the hapless and unfortunate victims not only in Bangalore but also all over the State of Karnataka.
“This non-profit service sector has further resolved to fight the pandemic along with the Government as part of its Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) healthcare initiative,” the memorandum stated.
Appreciating the Government and the State civic and health authorities for being proactive and for taking timely action during this COVID-19 pandemic situation, they also brought to their notice that, “While we are happy to fight a common enemy during this pandemic, there are serious concerns about the viability and their continued service in the future,” the memorandum added.
On one hand, while the ever-increasing positive cases and the consequent hospitalization of the vast number of patients have put a strain on these hospitals, they are also straddled with issues that are seriously hampering the normal running of the hospitals.
The memorandum highlighted the following issues:
Visits of Non-COVID-19 Patients
As the visits of non-COVID-19 patients are drastically reduced, there is absolutely no turnover of revenue which is making matters very challenging and we are in a situation not even able to pay salaries. Hospital managements are facing financial crisis and incurring a huge deficit, leading to think seriously about its very sustainability.
In this situation, it said it was extremely difficult to continue humanitarian mission of serving the unserved and the underserved. The inordinate delay in obtaining reimbursements from the Government for the services rendered to Government patients has exacerbated the problem.
SAST Re-imbursements
The hospitals are now struggling to pay salaries and run their day-to-day administration. If there are delays in the approvals and payments, the hospitals would become unviable and would not be able to continue their services. The memorandum urged the government to instruct the concerned department to make the payments on a priority basis.
With the procedural aspects of the SAST system of payment painfully slow and cumbersome, and the flow of payment has severely hampered and derailed frontline workers and COVID-19 warriors –doctors, nurses and paramedics – who are deprived of the little incentives that have promised. These hurdles, lack of human resources and, at the same time, the extension of the working hours of the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff, beyond limits without any break or leave, have also caused a great burden to their mission. “If the present situation continues, the non-profit Christian Hospitals will find it extremely difficult to continue their humanitarian mission of serving the unserved and the underserved,” the memorandum stated
Allocation of 50% of Hospital Beds to the Government:
The Government has directed the private Hospitals to allocate 50% of its beds as Government beds for COVID-19 patients. In computing the total number of available beds, the Government has included also a number of beds dedicated to essential non-Covid services such as Child, Maternal, Cancer, Dialysis, Burns, Emergency, and Psychiatry. If these beds are included in the total count for calculating 50%, then these essential Non-Covid services will be seriously compromised, the memorandum highlighted.
“We understand that the matter has been represented to the authorities concerned to exclude the above-mentioned essential Non-Covid beds from the computation of total beds, but we are yet to receive a positive response. We appeal to the Government to drop the demand of providing the 50% of overall beds under all departments as it is beyond sustainability,” the memorandum said.
Walk-in Patients:
The Christian Hospitals have a large number of walk-in COVID-19 patients who refuse to go elsewhere. The memorandum urged the government to instruct the SAST establishment to look at ways to accommodate the deserving ones under the SAST umbrella. For example, in recent times, St John’s Medical College Hospital had a large number of its COVID-19 patients who had directly reported there. It is a similar story with other Christian Hospitals.
A Two-pronged Challenge:
The 50% of the beds set aside, from among the total beds earmarked for Covid related cases, are often the admissions under the Government sponsored SAST scheme. But many patient’s walk-in, as private patients, obtain complete treatment and refuse to pay the bill at the time of discharge, and they demand that the bill amount be claimed through SAST. To add to the confusion at the time of discharge, the relatives and attenders disappear and later these groups barge in and threaten the Hospital Management to waive off the bills etc. Uploading of the data on the portal in the last minute under SAST, which is plagued with obstacles of paper work and documentation, is causing an enormous problem to these hospitals.
The memorandum sought early redressal of these issues and requested the government to take the necessary steps to find immediate solutions, and also to curb all interferences and confusions to create a smooth atmosphere to peacefully render healthcare services.