Kerala scraps income limit for pay wards at Govt Hospitals
Thiruvananthapuram: Health Minister K Muraleedharan on Friday announced that the Kerala government has decided to remove the income criterion for availing pay ward facilities in government hospitals, enabling patients to access the service irrespective of their income.
According to an official statement, the minister has directed the Health Department Principal Secretary to issue necessary orders in this regard.
The existing income-based criteria had prevented many low-income patients from booking pay wards, the statement said.
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According to the PTI report, it also noted that patients arriving at emergency departments often do not provide accurate income details while obtaining OP tickets due to the urgency of the situation. When they later seek to book a pay ward, the income criterion becomes a hurdle.
Under the current system, patients seeking to update the income details have to submit an application to the hospital superintendent, obtain approval from the concerned official and complete further formalities with the medical records section.
The new decision would eliminate these procedural hurdles, the statement said.
Muraleedharan said the move was aimed at making healthcare services in government hospitals more patient-friendly and ensuring that better hospital facilities are available to all patients irrespective of their financial status.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Shri J. P. Nadda chaired a virtual review meeting with Shri K. Muraleedharan, Kerala Health Minister, to review the implementation and progress of key health programmes and public health initiatives in the State. The meeting reviewed the implementation and progress of major flagship health programmes and initiatives in Kerala, including the TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, Free Drugs Service Initiative, Free Diagnostic Service Initiative, Human Resources for Health under the National Health Mission (NHM), Medical Education, Drug Regulation, and Food Safety and Standards.
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