Mumbai: Outdated data on TB patients will cost private hospitals Rs 50,000

As per the new draft formulated by Maharashtra TB department, private hospitals will have to report the number of TB patients undergoing treatment

Soon, private hospitals may have to pay fine up to Rs 50,000 if they fail to report the number of TB patients they receive, to the state health department. This has been included in the new draft formulated by the state TB department and submitted to the ministry last week. It will be presented in the assembly for discussion and if implemented then Maharashtra will be the first state to enforce such a policy.

Missing data
As per the data of the TB department, almost 60 per cent of the patients go to private hospitals for treatment. And these hospitals don’t inform the state department about the number of patients they receive. As a result, they can’t keep track of the patients who are undergoing treatment under the Directly Observed Therapy Shortcourse (DOTS) and fail to receive correct data. Hence, it hinders with policy formulations. So, in the new draft the department has made it mandatory for all private hospitals to report about TB patients.

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“A stringent policy has to be in place so that private hospitals report about each and every TB patient they receive. And if they fail to do so they will be fined up to Rs 50,000,” said Sanjeev Kamble, head of the state TB department. “We have formulated the draft and submitted it to the state health ministry, which will later be submitted in the assembly for discussion,” he added.

Fines with each warning
For the first warning the hospital will be fined Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000 for the second one. For the final warning, Rs 50,000 will be charged.

Drug resistant TB
Many a times, patients leave in the middle of treatment, which eventually leads to the development of drug resistant TB. This increases the mortality rate.

“Mostly private hospitals don’t follow up with the patients and lose track of them. If we develop a centralised data system, it will help us track all patients. This will also assist in curbing drug resistant TB cases. By imposing fines we will not be able to implement it easily,” said Dharmesh More, a social worker working for TB patients in the city.

Rs 10k
Amount of fine for first time violation

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