Cash crunch forces Wadia hospital to let go of patients mid-treatment
Doctors, employees likely to stage protest on Monday
The clash between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the state government has a major casualty — the administration of Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital, Parel, is being forced to discharge patients in the middle of treatment and has stopped admitting new patients. The doctors and employees of the hospital too are likely to stage a protest on Monday.
A letter by the hospital administration is displayed on the notice board. It says, “Owing to non-receipt of funds from BMC, we have been left with no other option but to reduce the services that are being offered for critical care and other related services. To avert any crisis without prejudice, we are left with no option but to discharge patients against medical advice.”
The hospital has also stopped accepting new patients, citing a shortage of Rs 229 crore, dues which the BMC has not cleared.
On Friday, the administration categorically told the doctors not to admit any patients until further orders and that only two days of medicine stock remained.
The hospitals shut down its bone marrow transplant, cardiac surgery, paediatric neurosurgery, paediatric nephrology, general surgery orthopaedic, haematoid oncology, plastic surgery and pathology departments last week.
Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospital, “We are being forced to discharge patients. What is the point in admitting new ones if we do not have basic emergency medicines to treat them? Everything is out of stock. We do not even have kits in the pathology department to allow us to conduct tests.”
Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said the payment was likely to be released by January 14. “We have cleared all the payments till September 2019. We need to release funds every three months but this time, the process has been delayed,” he said.
Civic officials said, according to an agreement drawn up with the BMC in the 1920s, the hospitals had to treat the families of textile mill owners for free and reserve 61 per cent of beds for them. “We want them to treat poor patients referred by BMC hospitals but they are not keen on reserving so many beds for them. Since the BMC bears nearly the entire cost of running the hospital, poor patients must get free treatment,” he said.
A letter by the hospital administration is displayed on the notice board. It says, “Owing to non-receipt of funds from BMC, we have been left with no other option but to reduce the services that are being offered for critical care and other related services. To avert any crisis without prejudice, we are left with no option but to discharge patients against medical advice