The
Times of India: Nagpur: Monday, October 22, 2012.
A RTI query
by the Sickle Cell Society of India has revealed that the government has been
giving equal amount of funds for the treatment of sickle cell anaemia patients
to all the eight state-run hospitals even though the number of patients varies
drastically.
The RTI query
revealed that city's Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) has
received around Rs6,260 per patient from the state government while Mumbai's
Grant Medical College that is attached to JJ Hospital has received Rs1,91,071
per patient in last four years.
A total
amount of Rs26.75 lakh has been forwarded by the state government to eight
state-run hospitals for the current financial year (2012-13). Of this, Rs18.75
lakh comes from the coffer of Directorate of Medical Research and Education
(DMER) and Rs8 lakh is given by National Rural Health Mission. The number of
patients in the region is very high while that in cities like Mumbai is
negligible. Yet the funds given to all the hospitals are equal.
"This
equal distribution of funds is illogical when there is such a big difference in
the number of patients who visit these hospitals. For example, hardly one
sickle cell anaemia patient visits Grant Medical College in a month whereas
there are more than 400 registered patients at GMCH, Nagpur. Hence, there is a
perennial shortage of facilities and medicines for these patients at the
medical colleges in Vidarbha," said president of SCSI Sampat Ramteke.
"From
where would the hospitals bring the money to serve so many patients if the
state does not provide them with it? Also, I am curious as to how the hospitals
with such less number of patients are utilizing the huge funds that they are
receiving," he added.
Three months
ago SCSI had approached DMER, NRHM as well the Directorate of Health Services
seeking information on the number of sickle cell patients in the state.
Surprisingly, none of these organizations had any updated patient registry
information.
"When
they do not have this basic information, what logic are they using to allot the
funds? Are the state agencies and government keeping no accounts or tabs on how
these hospitals are spending the money?" he asked. Calling it another
instance of disproportionate fund distribution among state-run projects in
Vidarbha and Western Maharashtra, Ramteke requested the political leaders from
the region to push this matter before the government.
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