Hospitals 'blatantly' flout Supreme Court ruling

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Hospitals 'blatantly' flout Supreme Court ruling

Jaya Shroff Bhalla , Hindustan Times

New Delhi, September 01, 2010

A heavily pregnant woman delivered her baby in a car after being refused

admission in Noida's district hospital. Her husband, a poor labourer, did not

have R12, 000, the money the hospital authorities asked towards the delivery

costs.

This is not an isolated incident of apathy by staff of government hospital,

where a woman was forced to deliver in the most uncomfortable and unhygienic

surroundings of a car, despite reaching the hospital in time.

In India, most government hospitals blatantly flout the Supreme Court ruling,

which prohibits hospitals from turning away patients requiring emergency care.

Earlier this year, a 28-year-old woman from Jahangeera-ganj locality of Ambedkar

Nagar delivered at the gates of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule district hospital in UP

after being refused admission.

Why? Because she was HIV positive. In April 2008, a woman delivered still-born

twins under a tree outside Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in northeast Delhi after

being refused a bed, as she didn't have an OPD card.

" These incidents are in complete aberration of the Supreme Court ruling. The

hospitals cannot refuse admission and treatment to the critically ill or

emergency patients on any grounds, " said Ashok Agarwal, legal rights activist

and advocate, Delhi High Court.

" This act amounts to violation of right to health guaranteed under Article 21 of

the Constitution besides breach of Hippocratic oath, taken by doctors swearing

to practice medicine ethically.

The aggrieved patient is entitled to adequate amount of compensation. The erring

doctors are also liable for disciplinary action, " he said.

To prevent the practice of dumping of patients by hospitals, the US Congress

enacted the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (for short,

COBRA). The law requires the hospital to stabilise the emergency condition of

the patient before deciding to transfer or discharge the patient. Provision is

made to impose penalties against hospitals or physicians that negligently

violate COBRA.

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