Maharashtra Govt. To Bear Hospital Expenses of Swine Flu Patients on Ventilators Support

17 March , Mumbai

Swine flu patients who are on ventilatorsupport since March 2, could soon be entitled toreimbursement of hospital expenses from the government.

While the state government has taken the decision, it is yet to announce a formal decision about the same.

A meeting was held to discuss the issue and necessarydirectives were issued to health officials to prepare a listof beneficiaries. State Principal secretary (Health) Sujata Saunik discussed the issue with state and district health officialshere last evening, in a meeting held through video-conferencing.

Dr Kanchan Jagtap, joint director of Health, today said, a government resolution is yet to be received but theprocess includes sending lists of patients from each Municipal Corporation areas or district area to the civilsurgeon for scrutiny.

Pune has a list of 43 such swine flu patients, while there are 15 patients on the list from Pimpri Chinchwad.These have been prepared and sent to the authoritiesconcerned, according to Dr HH Chavan, Deputy Director, Pune circle.

While Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced freetreatment for swine flu patients, Maharashtra HealthMinister Deepak Sawant later clarified that they woulddecide on the modalities in two-three days time. Based on this, state health officials admitted that acut-off date of March 2 — patients who were dischargedbefore this date will be excluded — had been discussed Monday .

Information about critically ill patients on ventilator support will be collected and sent to the state governmentfor reimbursement of hospital expenses.”The expenses would be decided as per Central GovernmentHealth scheme (CGHS) rates,Dr Chavan added