Gujarat’s health department is preparing a new plan to improve the quality of treatment and patient services in government hospitals, while public health facilities have been instructed to maintain emergency readiness during the Diwali holiday period.
The proposed hospital-management changes are intended to ensure that patients receive treatment and services comparable with those available at private hospitals, according to a report by Nav Gujarat Samay. The health department is expected to work on the plan after the Diwali festival, with the stated aim of improving the patient experience from admission through discharge.
The report said the government spends crores of rupees on public hospitals, but patients do not always receive a satisfactory or consistent service. The proposed planning will focus on the functioning of hospital administration, the use of available infrastructure and equipment, cleanliness, and the delivery of services to patients.
Government hospitals generally provide access to senior doctors and advanced medical equipment, the report said. However, complaints have been received in some cases about the effective use of equipment. The proposed measures will focus on reducing such gaps and ensuring that the infrastructure already available to public hospitals delivers greater value to patients.
Cleanliness remains a major concern in some government hospitals. Hospital administrators are expected to receive specific instructions to ensure stricter implementation of cleanliness requirements. The health department also plans to examine how existing facilities can be made fully available to patients rather than remaining underused or unevenly managed.
The report also highlighted the incomplete implementation of the Clinical Establishments Act in Gujarat. Under the Act’s provisions, hospitals are required to display information about the services available on their premises and the estimated cost of treatment in a manner visible to patients. Full implementation could improve transparency around treatment costs and make doctors and hospitals more accountable, according to the report.
The issue is also relevant to hospitals empanelled under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. The report said some empanelled hospitals may not provide every treatment or surgical procedure covered under the scheme. Patients may therefore enter a hospital believing that a procedure is available under the scheme, only to learn later that it is not offered there. Organisations working on patient rights have reportedly been demanding clearer information for patients.
Separately, the health department has directed government and semi-government health centres and hospitals to make arrangements for emergency care during the extended Diwali holidays. The instructions take into account the possibility of firecracker-related burn injuries, road accidents and other emergencies when some private hospitals may have limited doctor availability.
The directions apply particularly to the period from 9 November to 11 November. Medical officers of municipal corporations, chief district health officers of district panchayats and divisional deputy directors have been asked to arrange adequate doctors and paramedical staff at public health institutions.
The authorities have also been told to ensure arrangements for medico-legal cases, post-mortems and other emergency services. Municipal corporations, district panchayats and deputy directorates have been instructed to pass on the directions to all health institutions under their control.
The longer-term hospital-quality plan and the festival emergency arrangements place responsibility on the health department and local health administrators to convert instructions into functioning services. The report did not provide a specific implementation deadline for the broader hospital-management plan, which is expected to be prepared after Diwali.
