Information regarding referral cases sent by two doctors of Railway Hospital to the various corporate hospitals & the gross expenditure incurred was sought - Respondent: the records are maintained hospital wise & not doctor wise - CIC: provide information
9 Nov, 2014ORDER
RTI Application:
1. The appellant filed an RTI application dated 15.06.2012 seeking information regarding total No. of referral cases sent by various doctors mentioned in the RTI application. The CPIO responded on 28.06.2012. Not satisfied with the reply, the appellant filed first appeal dated 01.08.2012 with the First Appellate Authority (FAA). The FAA responded on 30.10.2012. The appellant filed a second appeal dated 18.1.2013 with the Commission.
Hearing:
2. The appellant participated in the hearing through video conferencing. The respondent participated in the hearing personally.
3. The appellant referred to his RTI application dated 15.06.2012 and stated that is seeking information on the points mentioned in the RTI application taking into account an F.I.R. registered in October, 2005 which was followed by a summons issued on 1.10.2007. The appellant said that he wants following information:
i) total number of cases from 01.10.2007 to 15.06.2012 (till the date of RTI application), that have been referred by the Dr. T. Anjaiah and Dr. R. Narasimha Rao of Railway Hospital in Secunderabad to the various corporate hospitals for further management of these cases;
ii) the gross expenditure that was incurred in the above cases by the department.
4. The respondent stated that the cases are referred by the Railway hospital to the various specialty hospitals but the records are not maintained doctorwise or specialtywise. The respondent stated that they are maintaining records hospitalwise. The respondent further stated that they have already provided the information hospitalwise to the appellant.
5. The respondent said that they have no intention to withhold any information and are ready to provide the available information to the appellant.
6. In the course of the hearing the appellant said that the general practice followed by the Railway hospital is that patients are referred to recognized private hospitals after full screening by the railway hospitals’ consultants. Accordingly, the patient is referred with referral letter to the corporate hospitals with the name of the patient, name of the specialist and doctor who referred the patient to corporate hospital. After the treatment of the patient at corporate hospital, the bill is sent to the railway hospital from corporate hospital with the name of the patient, detail of treatment given, details of amount being passed. On this basis, the appellant requested for complete information in respect of these two above mentioned doctors along with Medical Audit Documents.
7. The appellant further said that on the basis of FIR, summons is issued to these doctors and the case is pending in court. It is in this background that the appellant wants information in his RTI application about the cases referred by these two specific doctors.
Decision:
8.The respondent is directed to:
a) provide the information, supported by an affidavit, as sought by the appellant in context of the RTI application pertaining to the two doctors specifically mentioned in the RTI application;
b) enable the appellant to inspect the relevant files in context of connected medical audits and provide photo copies of the pertinent documents as available; and
c) comply with the above within 30 days of this order. The appeal is disposed of. Copy of decision be given free of cost to the parties.
(Vijai Sharma)
Information Commission
Citation: Shri K. Kotaiah v. South Central Railway in Decision No. CIC/AD/A/2013/000547/VS/07774