Told to deposit user charges, Punjab hospitals face fund shortage
Ravi Dhaliwal
Gurdaspur, January 17
On January 11, barely hours before Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was to visit Gurdaspur, the Civil Hospital authorities were in a quandary. Following an unforeseen financial crunch, they faced a dilemma over who would pay for the fuel of the ambulance which was to ferry a team of doctors to cater to the VIP visit.
Fee lifeline for hospitals
- From January 1, hospitals told to deposit 100 per cent user charges collected every month in the govt treasury
- The amount for each hospital runs into lakhs of rupees
- These charges are the lifeline of the hospitals to meet their daily and other short-term expenditure
- Doctors say the development has virtually put 90 per cent of the hospitals on the life support system
The Senior Medical Officer (SMO) is entitled to sanction funds. However, this time, the SMO found himself struggling to arrange finances. He was restrained by a recent government order.
Everybody around heaved a sigh of relief when the driver said the ambulance had “just enough diesel for the VIP visit”. In any case, the possibility that the vehicle might not have been refuelled for want of funds was indeed real.
The critical situation arose on January 4 after the Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) asked all district and sub-divisional hospitals and Community Health Centres (CHCs) to deposit 50 per cent of the user charges collected till December 31, 2022, in the government treasury by January 5.
To complicate matters, neither any financial powers have been delegated, nor guidelines been issued on how to spend the remaining 50 per cent amount.
Starting from January 1 this year, hospitals have also been ordered to deposit 100 per cent of the user charges collected every month in the treasury by the last working day of that month. This amount runs into lakhs of rupees for each hospital.
These charges are the lifeline for hospitals to meet their daily and other short-term expenditure. Doctors admit that this development has virtually put 90 per cent of the hospitals in the state on a life support system.
A senior functionary said, “How will we pay for emergency drugs, X-ray films, repair of lifts and other hospital equipment?”
Raman Bahl, PHSC Chairman, said he had taken up the issue with the Health Minister. He admitted that he had received numerous letters from hospital heads seeking the immediate revocation of the new policy.
