Over 100 Private Hospitals in Pune Renew Licenses Following Health Department Action
Pune, 12th April 2024: It has been discovered that over 100 private hospitals in Pune were operating without valid licenses. Their licenses expired on March 31, and the hospitals did not renew them on time. In response, the Health Department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) took swift action and completed the process of renewing the licenses of most of the hospitals.
Within the PMC limits, there are 840 private hospitals. Out of these, 410 hospitals needed to renew their licenses by the end of March. To address this, the PMC’s Health Department launched a special campaign from February 22 to March 5, implementing a one-stop service for license renewals. As of March 5, 310 hospitals had successfully renewed their licenses, leaving 100 unrenewed. In the last five days, the Health Department has worked diligently to renew most of the remaining hospital licenses.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has taken penal action against hospitals operating without renewing their licenses. Although the PMC does not have the authority to close these hospitals, it can impose a fine of Rs 100 per month, with a maximum cap of Rs 5,000. This penalty is the only punitive measure available to the PMC for hospitals providing services without a valid license. However, sources have reported that the health department swiftly addressed the situation, completing the license renewals for most hospitals.
In Pune City, there are a total of 840 private hospitals. Out of these, 410 hospitals’ licenses were set to expire this year. So far, 350 hospitals have successfully renewed their licenses, leaving 28 hospitals with pending renewals. Additionally, there is a proposal for the closure of 30 hospitals.
Dr. Bhagwan Pawar, Chief Health Officer of the Municipal Corporation, has directed the immediate completion of the license renewal process for all hospitals. Notifications were also sent to hospitals with pending renewals to prompt them to complete the process. Consequently, the licenses of all outstanding hospitals have now been renewed.
