Healthcare services in govt hospitals to be outsourced

Government to pay 5,016 per bed per month as maintenance cost

​Hyderabad: In an apparent move to hand over the government owned healthcare services to private players in a phased manner, the Telangana government has brought into force Integrated Hospital Facility Management Service.

According to Special Chief Secretary to Health, Medical and Family Welfare department Rajeshwar Tiwari, the government would be handing over the responsibility of providing the services which were so far provided by ayah’s and ward boys to improve patient care.

The new team of service providers’ role would begin from the time a patient reaches the hospital till he or she is discharged. It will be their responsibility to take the patient in wheelchairs or trolleys across different patient care areas for various laboratory tests, collect reports, change diapers of patients, place bed pans, management of biomedical waste and other responsibilities related to patient care.

Tiwari said that this system is being introduced by modifying the existing ‘Sanitation and Security Services’ policy which came into force in 2013. The inspiration for bringing such changes was taken after studying the system in neighboring Tamil Nadu.

The government came to the conclusion that the support services in Tamil Nadu were much better in the hospitals. Therefore, it decided to modify the existing policy and ensure better services in the healthcare services, he said.

Following this, the Government issued an order on Monday. According to the GO, the government would pay Rs 5,016 per bed per month as maintenance cost for improving the patient care services in the government hospitals.

The official said that the Collector would be empowered to constitute the tender committee in the districts to select the service providers. In case of Hyderabad district, the Managing Director, Telangana State Medical Services Infrastructure Development Corporation (TSMSIDC), is the competent authority.

When asked how the government would monitor the performance of the staff, the source said that the district health societies under the chairman of district Collector would monitor the performance of the agencies every month and monthly payments would be made based on the actual percentage of performance.

If the agency is non-compliant (75 per cent or less) consecutively for three months, the contract would be terminated automatically and the performance security amount would be forfeited, the official said.