IMA and VHA delegation during the meeting with Nagpur Municipal Corporation officials on Thursday (May 20)

A delegation of Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Vidarbha Hospitals Association (VHA), Nagpur, on Thursday (May 20), met Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) Commissioner Radhakrishnan B and Additional Commissioner Jalaj Sharma and expressed the desire of doctors to stop treating COVID-19 patients at their respective hospitals.

The delegation said that the sustained firing of notifications by NMC has broken the back and dented the determination of private hospitals to continue serving COVID-19 patients. The delegation also cited illegal taxing orders, red tapism, thankless administration and no government support as causes behind the decision.

The office bearers highlighted that since the the 1½ years, private health care sector has attended to thousands of COVID patients and that Nagpur was brought on the national map by becoming one of the cities with maximum ventilator/ICU/oxygenated COVID beds with the help of the investments done private hospitals. Almost 3/4th of COVID patients were treated by Nagpur private hospitals even with their objections on capping and audits.

Dr Sanjay Deotale, President, Nagpur IMA, stated that forget a word of appreciation, now doctors are being threatened with penal actions and multiple authorities are flooding them with orders to send varied reports, formats, details, data through emails, hard copies and WhatsApp groups.

Dr Ashok Arbat, President, VHA, said that the administrative overload has overwhelmed the private hospitals and now they seek to excuse themselves from COVID service. Dr Arbat said that the hospitals are being harassed by the administration seeking confidential data in various formats. The already taxed hospital personnel are hassled not by clinical duties but by these paperwork, he added.

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Dr Anil Laddhad, MMC Member, added that rather than face the overwhelming thankless task of compiling voluminous data in various formats, the private hospitals now wish to withdraw themselves from COVID duties and continue with non-COVID routine work. Dr Laddhad said that one should check the cost incurred on each COVID patient per day in government establishments before pointing fingers at private hospitals who have been forced to run on capped charges for 80% beds.

Dr Anup Marar, Convener, VHA, stated that no compensation was ever given for establishing COVID hospitals and making infrastructural changes or equipment additions. No support came from government in form of any assistance, subsidies or grants. Rather, NMC hospital registration and biomedical waste disposal charges was increased multi-fold. Dr Marar added that the hospitals are directed to serve within capped charges and pay from their own pockets for increasing oxygen charges.

Dr Alok Umre, Secretary, VHA, conveyed that hospital personnel feel insecure with the threats and mob vandalism by social activists. Arrests as per 2010 act were never undertaken on those who vandalised the hospitals. Dr umre pointed out that even the High Court had directed that no videography be permitted in COVID hospitals. Still all social activists blatantly took videos and maligned the image of many hospitals in social media.

Dr Sachin Gathe, Secretary, IMA, concluded by saying that it is difficult to serve in such tough conditions. Government has not been able to protect the interests of private hospitals. Hence we are being forced to take such a decision as hospital personnel now need some rest time rather than facing insults from all corners, he added.

VHA has been repeatedly highlighting that the imposition of audits on private hospitals, who have been forced to reserve beds and work within capped charges without any compensation, bypasses National Health Authority guidelines. VHA has stated that the matters of audits and capping are presently subjudiced.

Renowned Nagpur doctors including Dr Archana Kothari, Dr Anand Sancheti, Dr Tushar Gawad, Dr Shishir Kolhe, Dr Abhiram Paranjape, Dr Shishir Shrivastava, Dr Deepak Jeswani, Dr Pravin Lad, Dr Sandip Mogre, Dr Dilip Rathi, Dr Nilesh Agarwal, Dr Mahesh Sarda, Dr Rajesh Mundhada, and many others accompanied the IMA and VHA delegation to convey the same.