Indian Express 03.08.2010
Seven Hills starts ‘separate’ OPD for patients from civic hospitals
Pritha Chatterjee Tags : Seven Hills Hospital, mumbai Posted: Tue Aug 03 2010, 00:28 hrs
Mumbai: Almost a month after it began functioning, the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri East has started a new Out Patient Department (OPD) to cater exclusively to patients referred by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hospitals.The OPD, however, is operating out of a building that is segregated from the main hospital complex and separate diagnostic facilities have also been installed. The X-Ray and Sonography machine have already been put in place and the hospital authorities confirmed that exclusive pathology facilities will also be started soon. While there are exclusive staff nurses to cater to this OPD, Medical Superintendent of Seven Hills Hospital, Dr Deepa Kumar said doctors have to be “called from the main OPD if BMC patients show up.”
The hospital had run into controversy early last month after corporators cried foul over separate wards and ICUs being made for patients from the municipal hospitals. Launched as a flagship Public Private Partnership(PPP) between the BMC and the Seven Hills Group, the corporators had alleged that segregation of facilities was a violation of the original terms of agreement. Commenting on this, Dr Kumar said, “We are trying our best to fulfill our promise. But if we have common facilities, patients who are paying for first class facilities will have problems.” She added that this would also lead to indiscriminate use of the subsidized services. “If people see that the same facilities are available free, everybody will claim to be unable to afford payment,” said Dr Kumar.
However, speaking to the press before the hospital’s inaugural function, chairman of the hospital Dr Jitendra Maganti had said that facilities for out patients would be kept common. Though he was unavailable for comment, Dr Kumar said this segregated OPD had been a part of the original plan.
While the hospital had announced its opening with 150 beds, only 70 are currently available and 30 surgeries have already been conducted. Hospital authorities say that despite no progress on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the BMC, they have started treating patients at subsidised rates. “We get about four-five patients everyday. If we are convinced they can’t afford our rates, we refer them to the BMC OPD,” said Dr Kumar.
Meanwhile, Dr Kumar confirmed that subsidised in-patient facilities had not been started yet, as the MOU was not in place.
