The much-hyped tie-up by Western Railway (WR) with four private hospitals in the Dahisar-Virar belt to give golden hour treatment to suburban train accident victims is in jeopardy after one of the hospitals pulled out citing delay in payment of bills by WR.
Sanjivani Hospital from Virar, which was entrusted with giving primary treatment to train accident victims before they could be rushed to bigger hospitals — mainly Bhagwati in Borivli — has pulled out saying that payment is delayed despite railway rules stipulating bills to be paid within 30 days.
Speaking to dna, Mahesh Desai, trustee of the hospital, said, "It was getting increasingly tough with the railways taking almost three to four months to clear even small bills. Moreover, we were entrusted with giving just primary care after which it was our duty to send the patient to a bigger hospital. Several times, the cost of ambulance was far higher than the treatment of the patient at our hospital."
According to Desai, it was not just about the money itself. "Most of the times, these accidents would happen late at night and calling our doctors from far-off places just to provide primary care to the patients was becoming a problem," said Desai.
However, WR officials said that as per their account books, no hospital bills were pending. A WR spokesperson said that the bills currently under consideration are the ones pertaining to March 2014, all of which fall within the 30 or 60-days' period of payment.
WR officials said that it had paid a little over Rs30 lakh as bills for the 2013-14 fiscal to the four hospitals.
The tie-up with these private hospitals had allowed the railways to give a better chance to the people who met with train accidents. The stretch between Borivli and Virar continues to remain one of the most dangerous stretches. Around 17 per cent of all the deaths caused due to crossing tracks are registered here.
According to railway police statistics, of the 1,826 people who died crossing tracks last year, the Borivli railway police area with 184 deaths and Vasai railway police area with 134 deaths were among the top five stations in terms of such deaths.
Payment till 2013-2014 fiscal
Ravi hospital (Vasai) : Rs10.86 lakh
Sanjivani hospital (Virar) : Rs4.33 lakh
Sai Vedanta (Bhayander): Rs1.03 lakh
Alliance (Nallasopara east) : Rs13.20 lakh
(figures by WR)
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