Can’t deny mediclaim on technicality: HC
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, APRIL 01, 2018 00:00 IST
Relief for those who chose unempanelled hospitals

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has concurred with a view taken by a single judge that medical insurance cannot be denied to government servants and pensioners who took treatment in hospitals of their choice without approaching empanelled institutions.

Refusing to entertain a batch of writ appeals preferred by a nationalised insurance company, Justices C.T. Selvam and N. Sathish Kumar observed that an insured person’s claim for reimbursement for having taken treatment from a hospital of his/her choice could be restricted but could not be denied altogether.

The judges refused to even condone the delay of 95 days in preferring the present batch of appeals. Holding that the appellant had not cited plausible reasons for the delay, the Bench said, it had become a routine practice for government institutions to prefer appeals against every other court order.

“The present-day scenario of filing appeals, challenging every court order, clearly exhibits that the heads of the departments are shirking their responsibilities. In fact, now a tendency has developed among department heads to file appeals even in cases without merits only to avoid any query in the future,” it added.

Though only applications to condone the delay had been listed for hearing before the Bench, the judges gave a finding that even the appeals could not be entertained. “Though it is not fair on our part to touch upon the merits, still we are of the view that the order passed by the learned single judge cannot be faulted at all,” they said.

‘State duty-bound’

In his September 4, 2017 judgment, Justice S.M. Subramaniam said: “The State in this regard should be a model employer and the insurance companies, as a State, have a duty to deliver the medical insurance schemes promptly. They cannot escape their liabilities on mere technicalities.”

Referring to insurance claims being settled promptly in many countries, the judge said: “Such a practice is not prevailing in our country. But the Constitutional goal is to achieve such a result and we should thrive towards achieving the same.” The judge criticised the State for forcing even pensioners to file writ petitions seeking reimbursement of medical expenses and the insurance companies for taking repeated adjournments in such cases. He held that the officials were duty-bound to settle genuine claims on time.

Hosp penalised ₹3L for medical negligence 

times of india 31.03.2018

Chennai: The district consumer disputes redressal forum, Chengalpattu, has directed Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre, Chinna Kolambakkam in Kancheepuram, to pay a compensation of ₹3.10 lakh to a woman for negligence in treatment.

The forum observed that the hospital performed a surgery on the woman when it was not warranted resulting in bladder injury. Petitioner C Mageswari, of Perumbakkam, submitted that she approached the institute with complaints of abdominal pain in October 2013. Doctors there said she had an ovarian cyst. She alleged that the hospital extracted a huge amount in the guise of treatment. Even after the surgery, her condition became worse and on second opinion at another hospital, she was told that the treatment provided to her was absurd.

The woman then approached the forum seeking a compensation of ₹15lakh. The hospital contended that they provided the best treatment available and there was no question of fleecing. The bench of president N Kaliyamurthi, members K Prameela and D Babu Varadharajan after hearing both the sides ruled in favour of the complainant. TNN

Univ asked to repay ₹12L to NRI student
Consumer Forum Also Imposes Fine Of ₹10,000

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 31.03.2018

Chennai: The State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has directed Sri Ramachandra University in Porur to return USD 18,000 (approximately ₹11.73 lakh) collected as excess fee from a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) student who discontinued MBBS course from the university. Condemning the university for unfair practices, the commission also slapped a fine of ₹10,000.

The complainant, Parasaran Rangarajan, had enrolled in the MBBS course in 2009 under the NRI quota. According to the petition filed by him, he had paid a fee amount of USD 1,43,000 (approximately ₹93.16 lakh) in three instalments.

However, the fee turned out to be USD 1,25,000 (₹81.43 lakh). He had also paid the hostel fee for the entire duration of the course.

Parasaran couldn’t finish the course and had to discontinue the five-and-a half year course after a year due to ill-health.

Since he had made an excess payment of USD 18,000 , he appealed to the university administration to return the amount.

However, the authorities sat on the request and never bothered to respond to him despite repeated appeals and writing to them. Following that,he knocked on the doors of the state consumer dispute redressal commission.

The bench comprising Justice Dr S Tamilvanan and K Baskaran, after the final hearing last Wednesday ruled in favour of Parasaran and directed the university to repay the excess fee.

Bank penalised for selling bike without proper documents

Chennai:The State Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum has rapped HDFC bank and directed it to pay ₹36,500 with interest to a customer to whom the bank sold abike without proper documentation 10 years ago. It has also directed the bank to pay additional ₹15,000 for causing mental agony to the customer. The complaint was filed by Saravanan. The bench comprised Justice Dr S Tamilvanan and K Baskaran.

The petition said the bank seized a two-wheeler on April 29, 2008, from a customer for not paying the interest amount and sold the same vehicle to Saravanan the very next day. However, they failed to inform the customer about a pending police case against the vehicle. TNN

Police bust fake visa racket, nab two, seize 65 passports

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   31.03.2018

Chennai: The Vepery police busted a fake visa racket by arresting two people, including a woman, on Friday. Police seized 65 passports, fake visas of countries, including Canada and the UK, and other documents such as income tax returns, Aadhaar cards and voter identity cards.

Police said John Xavier, 34, a native of Sivaganga, was operating the racket out of an office on Naval Hospital Road, just a few metres from the Chennai police commissioner’s office. A police team first arrested Xavier and later picked up his assistant Venkateswari, 32, from a hotel. Police have also launched a hunt for four more accomplices in the scam.

Xavier has been operating in the city for more than a year as some of the documents date back to 2017, said an investigating officer. “We suspect that his clients submitted original passports to procure fake visas and travel abroad,” the officer said. Police are verifying whether the other documents seized are original.

Following the seizure, sleuths from the Q branch conducted inquiries with the arrested duo. Preliminary interrogations revealed that they charged up to ₹1lakh for each fake visa.

Venkateswari, a BSc graduate in information technology, had been employed by Xavier since 2013, a senior police officer said, adding that she first approached him to obtain a fake passport and later started working for him.

Further investigations are on to find out how many people availed of fake visas from Xavier to travel abroad. Police have gathered a list of people who approached him for this purpose and are likely to question them.

In July 2017, police had arrested a head constable attached to the intelligence wing of the Chennai city police and a postman in a fake passport scam.

Call for reservation of MBBS seats from backward districts

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   31.03.2018

Courts have repeatedly struck down district-based incentives for admission of medical students, but public health experts are urging policy makers to look at reservation in backward districts at the undergraduate level to ensure more doctors in rural areas.

In the past two years, 10 students from Tiruvarur joined a medical college through the state’s single window counselling. From six in 2016, the number dropped to four in 2017 after NEET. The same year, Sivaganga had 13 compared to 712 from Chennai.

Migration becomes another issue when the few medicos from smaller towns move to the city. “Students from the city do not move to rural areas as they are used to the comforts of the city. The government should reserve a certain percentage of seats for those who have studied in a district. Such students should sign a bond to serve in the district for at least five years,” said former director of public health Dr S Elango.

Apart from a bond, it is important to tempt doctors to stay, says Mumbai-based T Sundararaman of school of health systems studies at Tata Institute of Social Studies. “It’s not a problem just in TN or India. It exists across the globe and solutions are the same. In Thailand, doctors working in rural areas are paid twice more than those working in Bangkok,” he said. In addition, uniform equipment and operating procedures will remove the feeling of isolation, he said.

Although TN’s performance in most health indicators is good, it has not been able to achieve uniform standards. “It’s part of our long-term plan. While we are trying to build a medical college in every district (TN has 22), we want to increase seats to 250 in existing colleges. This would mean colleges in rural areas will have the same infrastructure like those in Chennai,” said A Edwin Joe, director of medical education.

City craze ails TN docs, leaves smaller towns ill 

While Chennai Has 18 Doctors For 10,000 People, There Are 2 In Tiruvarur; More Medicos From Districts May Help, Say Experts

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com 31.03.2018

The wait at a doctor’s clinic is usually long, and the queue could be longer if you live outside the city. A recent study by the health department shows that Tamil Nadu isn’t just dealing with a shortage of doctors, an uneven distribution of doctors is letting patients down.

The state medical council register shows an average of eight doctors for every 10,000 people in the state, a little higher than the national average of six. Worse, districts like Chennai have more than 18 doctors per 10,000, but some like Tiruvarur have just two.

Along with Chennai, Tiruvallur (12.4), Namakkal

(11.1) and Kanyakumari (10.2) meet the WHO recommendation of at least 10 doctors per 10,000 people. But at the other end of the scale, districts like Nagapattinam (3) and Tiruvannamalai (2.9) are far below the national average. “The ratio is based on registrations that happened in the past 30 years. There could be slight variations but it is the best indicator we have at present,” said TN State Medical Council president Dr K Senthil.

The poor doctor-patient ratio pulls down health indices such as maternal and child mortality and nutritional status, and leads to under diagnosis of chronic ailments. It also leads to the proliferation of quacks, a large number of whom the directorate of medical services has tracked down in districts like Tiruvannamalai. As there aren’t enough doctors, vacancies in government hospitals and clinics in these districts are proportionately higher.

The absence of data on the total number of hospitals, beds or specialists in each district, makes it more difficult to find a solution for the unequal distribution. In an attempt to find a remedy, Tamil Nadu assembly passed the Clinical Establishment Act last week. “The act will help collate details on facilities available in the private and public sector,” said state health minister C Vijaya Baskar. While the rules of the act are expected to be notified soon, the act will make it mandatory for all clinical establishments to register with the government and provide details about the number of beds, details of equipment and staff.

Last month, a six-member committee, headed by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation managing director P Umanath, declared at least 16 of the 32 districts in TN to be backward in terms of health due to inadequate doctor-patient ratio and poor health indices. While it said government doctors in remote areas should be given incentives, it had indicated the need for policy changes that would encourage students from these districts to take up medicine.



LONG WAIT: Vacancies of doctors in GHs in some districts are higher

Holding hands, young couple jumps to death in front of train

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  31.03.2018

Chennai : A young couple died after jumping in front of a speeding train while holding hands in Athipattu near Minjur early on Friday morning.

Horrified witnesses travelling on the train from Chennai to Gummidipoondi called the railway police after the incident at around 6am. The bodies of the duo were taken to the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.

Police identified the couple as A Akash, 21, and S Ramya, 19, both residents of Athipattu. Akash, a contract worker at a thermal power station, befriended Ramya who was a second-year engineering student at a self-financing college. Their families were against the relationship, said a police officer.

“We received a call in the morning and arrived within minutes. Both suffered severe injuries and were dead even before we reached the spot,” said a railway police officer.

The train was halted for about 20 minutes and services were affected for a few hours. However, normalcy returned by mid-afternoon, officials said. A case of unnatural death has been registered.

Data compiled by the Indian Council of Medical Research shows that Tamil Nadu leads the country in the number of suicides. The National Crime Records Bureau has pegged the suicide rate (number of suicides per one lakh population) in the state at around 28% -- three times the national average.

Suicide Helplines: Call 104 helpline or Sneha helpline at 91-44-24640050; 91-44-2464006. Email: help@snehaindia.org