Puducherry: Private teaching hospitals should provide low cost healthcare

Puducherry: A second annual conclave of hospital administrators ‘HACON 2017’, on the current challenges faced by private teaching hospitals opened at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI) in Puducherry. Hospital administrators of 14 private medical colleges from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala came together to discuss the challenges.

Prashanth Rajagopalan, Trustee, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, one of the guest pointed out that cross subsidy of fees in private medical colleges to serve the public will not last a long time. Only those medical college hospitals which run efficiently will survive, he added.

He was of the opinion that private teaching hospitals needed to efficiently reorganize to provide low cost health facilities accompanied with high quality care.

Dayananda. M, Medical Superintendent at COO, Kasturba Hospital, stated that inflation was not directly linked to the annual payment revision of health plans “There is rise in volume of uncompensated care from schemes,” he said.

He discussed the mandate for teaching hospitals, human resources, statutory compliance , operational efficiency, and environment.

Chief Minister, V. Naryanasamy who did not attend the conclave had his message read to the audience at the inaugural function. His speech mentioned the support that the government gave private teaching medical institutes as they faced many a challenge.

“It is for this purpose that conferences like these are organized, where the administrators from various institutes deliberate, brainstorm and find solutions to the challenges,” he noted and the Hindu reported.