Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Oct 8: Patients from Keralam and other states are not being provided free treatment at Mangaluru's district Wenlock Hospital, according to a Deccan Herald report based on information furnished by the hospital's Public Information Officer (PIO) in response to an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The RTI application was filed by Sanjeeva, who sought information about treatment provided to patients from outside Karnataka. According to the report, the information furnished by Wenlock Hospital also stated that the hospital had not received any funds under the Keralam government's Arogya Raksha Samithi.

The RTI response, subsequently shared on social media, triggered criticism, with the hospital being accused of suppressing facts and providing misleading information, the report said.

According to Deccan Herald, the issue of financial support from Keralam is not new. In 2018, then health and family welfare secretary Shalini Rajneesh, based on data submitted by Wenlock Hospital, had written to the Keralam government seeking the hospital's inclusion in its list of empanelled hospitals under the Karunya Benevolent Fund Scheme (KBFS) and later under the Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Scheme (AB-NHPS).

Sources said previous governments had been making the same demand since 2014, the report said.

Hospital statistics submitted to the state government showed that of the 22,197 patients admitted to Wenlock Hospital in 2017, nearly 15% were from neighbouring Keralam. The figures also showed that 120 of the 166 maternity cases registered that year were from Keralam, while 50% of patients in the trauma ward were from the neighbouring state, according to the newspaper report.

Sources cited by the newspaper said there had been no positive response from the Keralam government to the request.

Hospital questions RTI applicant's move

Wenlock Hospital superintendent and district surgeon Dr D S Shivaprakash, responding to the RTI information and the criticism it attracted on social media, said the applicant should have filed an appeal before the designated appellate authority rather than uploading the information on social media.

The hospital also wanted to know the public interest behind such queries, Dr Shivaprakash said, according to the report.

Meanwhile, RTI applicant Sanjeeva said he decided to seek the information after being informed that the large number of patients from Keralam was making it difficult for poor patients from Puttur, Sullia, Bantwal and Moodbidri to access ICU facilities at Wenlock Hospital.

However, Sanjeeva said the information provided in response to his RTI application did not clarify whether patients from Keralam were paying for their treatment at the hospital under any government order, the newspaper reported.

Larger question over public healthcare

Activists said the issue was not merely whether Wenlock Hospital was providing or denying treatment to patients from Keralam. The larger question, according to them, was whether the government had created a district-level public healthcare system that could effectively serve local residents.

Sanjeeva said he would file an appeal against the information furnished by the PIO.

The issue has brought renewed attention to the significant number of patients from neighbouring Keralam treated at Wenlock Hospital and the absence of clarity over whether any corresponding financial arrangement exists between the two state governments, according to the report.