Ahemdabad: After finding inconsistencies in the services and charging process, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has issued a show-cause notice to CIMS Hospital Ahmedabad.
According to a recent media report, the private hospital came under the radar of the civic body after discrepancies were found in the billing process and admission of hospital staff. The hospital allegedly admitted non-health staff under the health quota and also served exuberant bills to patients.
It has been alleged that the hospital also wrongly claimed the reimbursement for the treatment of covid-19 patients under the civic body quota. Moreover, the medical records of some of the patients were also found to be missing by the authorities. However, extending its support to the hospital, the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (AHNA) criticized AMC's stand and termed it as "vindictive", "unjustified" and "authoritarian".
As per Indian Express report, the show cause notice came after AMC noticed gross discrepancies during an audit of the bills. According to the notice issued by AMC medical officer (health) Dr Bhavin Solanki, some of the daily clinical notes and medical reports which are supposed to record the daily vitals and the health condition of the patients were missing. Moreover, the patients referred by AMC were not admitted in an isolation ward rather they were referred to a High Dependency Unit (HDU) or Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with ventilators which is uncalled for.
The notice stated that though there was a significant improvement in the health condition of four patients, the hospital did not shift them back to the isolation ward and kept them in HDU or ICU, and all in all 12 such cases were mentioned in the notice. According to a daily, it was alleged that despite the patient showing no signs they were kept in these wards for three to four days.
The notice further added, "Many Covid-19 patients were reported to be stable and asymptomatic at the time of admission, but still they were admitted in HDU for 10 days," the notice states. Moreover, the reimbursement granted under the civic body quota was allegedly wrongly claimed by the hospital.
The Indian Express quotes that the notice stating: "Keeping in mind all these issues, your hospital and hospital staff has attempted to misguide AMC and get more than entitled amount, thus financially affecting the corporation. This is a serious issue. You are required to submit a written explanation in this within seven days."
Moreover, it is also found that the medical staff was admitted at the facility under the AMC quota instead of the covid-19 duty quota. During the audit, authorities detected almost 31 such patients including staff nurses, housekeeping workers, secretaries, health workers, deputy managers, clinical care officers, senior technicians and senior manager executives. Moreover, there are nine such cases where the patient was claimed to be a hospital staff but after investigation, their identity card revealed that they were not hospital staff and were from outside the municipal limits.
Meanwhile, calling the move and justified and authoritarian, AHNA has criticized the move of AMC. As reported by
The Indian Express, in a statement, the association claimed that the hospital should have been given the opportunity to conduct an inquiry on the staff who have been allegedly involved in the corrupt practices. The association further added that declaring a hospital guilty and suddenly delivering show-cause notice to them without giving them any chance to explain is unjustified. " There is a complete absence of democratic process."
The statement further stated, " the approach of AMC to target CIMS hospital for the single reason that the hospital was bold enough to bring to light corrupt practices of some of the AMC staff and complained to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) is highly deplorable. All the allegations against CIMS hospital are highly motivated because of the ACB case against their staff." Many of the doctors have addressed the take of AHNA on social media.
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