Hospitals and nursing homes will have to take state health department’s approval if indoor patients availing Swasthya Sathi cards, suffering from common diseases, stay at these healthcare units for more than 10 days. Swasthya Sathi scheme is a pet project of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Swasthya Bhaban, state health department headquarters at Salt Lake, has issued a directive in this regard.

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Medical audit team formed by the health department can give its nod to the concerned hospitals and nursing homes if it finds that the patients of common diseases genuinely require more than 10 days of treatments at these healthcare facilities.

The health department has threatened to take strong action against the third party agent (TPA) of the mediclaim insurance agency, concerned hospitals, nursing homes and doctors, attending to patients if it’s proved that the patients have been kept in the hospitals for more than 10 days, without any valid reasons.

The state government was prompted to take such drastic measures after Swasthya Bhaban was flooded with complaints on how private hospitals and nursing homes were registering inflated bills under the Swasthya Sathi scheme without giving proper treatment, including pathological and radiological tests to indoor patients for days.

It’s also alleged that many errant private healthcare facilities make bills under scheme in the name of different surgical procedures performed on patients.

A senior official at Swasthya Bhaban said, “We want to stop the trend of illegal practice among a section of private healthcare units. From now, concerned private hospitals and nursing homes will have to take the health department’s clearance if a common case requires more than 10 days hospital stay. We never said that patients won’t be allowed in private hospitals for more than 10 days. Private hospitals can keep patients for more than 10 days if their health conditions demand longer indoor treatment.”