80% hospitals flout public trust Act: State panel

The state committee including officials from the health and sales tax departments and charity commissioners’ office scouted 49 city hospitals to check if they were adhering to the rules under the Bombay Public Trust (BPT) Act and norms of the Indigent Patient Fund (IPF) for poor patients. The committee, divided in 53 teams, found that 80% of the hospitals were violating provisions in both the cases.

Wadia Hospital, Bombay Hospital and Cumbala Hill Hospital had less than 20% of the beds reserved for poor patients under the BPT Act. Only Parsi General Hospital had more than 20% of the beds reserved for poor patients. Ten hospitals had only made arrangements  for poor patients.

As per the IPF, charitable hospitals have to transfer  2% of the total bill amount for the fund. Nine hospitals have not opened an IPF account including Bombay hospital, Hinduja hospital and Lilavati hospital. A few hospitals did not open the accounts but maintained registers.