New Delhi: Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has received a show-cause notice from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) for allegedly violating the norms on treating patients belonging to the economically weaker sections (EWS). However, the hospital denied the allegations.

According to some sources in the Delhi government, the notice was issued after the hospital’s replies to their questions were found unsatisfactory. The Directorate invoked Clause 14.1 of the schedule appended to Rule 14 of Delhi Nursing Homes Registration (Amendment) Rules, 2011.

Hospital officials stated that the allegations were false and the authorities are responding to the issues that have been raised.

Aam Aadmi Party’s Karol Bagh MLA, Vishesh Ravi, stated that he had been following this matter with DGHS for years. According to him, the gross violations included non-admission of EWS patients despite the fact that 95% of the 68 beds reserved for them were vacant. He also said that the hospital should not discriminate against the EWS category patients.

Ravi also said that the Supreme Court had stated that private hospitals who received land at concessional rates had to provide free treatment to EWS category patients, adding that hospital had tried to evade its responsibility towards EWS patients by not following the DGHS guidelines.

Source: ET Healthworld