The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has sent a proposal to the state government to amend the building rules so hospitals that admit Swasthya Sathi patients can build an extra floor above their current structures.
Senior officials of the KMC said the objective behind the proposal was to give hospitals more space where they can accommodate Swasthya Sathi patients.
The KMC building rules govern the construction of new buildings or additions/alterations to existing buildings.
The Swasthya Sathi scheme, run by the state government, has enabled many people who would otherwise not have access to private healthcare to visit private hospitals for treatment.
“Swasthya Sathi beneficiaries would never have come to private hospitals without the scheme. As a result, the number of patients visiting private hospitals has gone up sharply,” said an official at a private hospital. .
Mayor Firhad Hakim told The Telegraph a few weeks ago that the additional space could be used to create wards for patients admitted under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.
The KMC had received requests from many nursing homes and hospitals for some relaxations to the building rules so they could create extra space, said an official. The proposal is in response to such requests.
The civic body wants to amend the building rules instead of extending benefits to hospitals on a case-by-case basis.
The proposal sent to the state government, which this newspaper has gone through, reads: “To augment healthcare infrastructure and healthcare facilities, additional floor may be allowed in cases of hospitals which are in operation and those are extending services to government approved health schemes under Swasthya Sathi”.
Government sources said the proposal is likely to be approved because the state government had asked the KMC to modify an earlier proposal and send the redrafted one.
The additional construction will, however, be subject to some conditions:
- Only one additional floor above the permissible height will be allowed
- The mandatory open space must be left free
- NOC from the fire brigade is needed for the additional construction
- The necessary fees have to be submitted for the new construction
- The additional FAR (floor-area ratio) should not exceed 10 per cent of the permissible FAR for the building.
FAR determines how much built space can be constructed on a plot. The higher the FAR, the more the scope for built space on the plot.
“We are allowing an additional floor so that the hospitals can admit Swasthya Sathi patients. They can set up Swasthya Sathi wards in the new space,” Hakim said.
The state health department has asked all private hospitals empanelled with Swasthya Sathi to reserve a certain number of beds for beneficiaries of the scheme.
The Swasthya Sathi scheme, launched in 2016, offers coverage for secondary and tertiary care of up to Rs 5 lakh per annum per family. Till August 31, over 58 lakh hospital treatments were covered under the scheme.
Over 2,400 hospitals have empanelled with the scheme and over 2.4 crore families are under its coverage, according to the information displayed on the Swasthya Sathi website.
An official of an association of private hospitals welcomed the move. “There has been a bed crisis in many private hospitals, especially after they started admitting patients under Swasthya Sathi. The scheme has enabled many people who would have otherwise not been able to come to private hospitals to avail themselves of private healthcare. So, the demand for beds has risen. This move will benefit patients as well as the hospitals.”