Patients seek cash payment mode at Thoothukudi GH scan centre

MADURAI: Several patients and senior citizens, who visit the Government Medical College Hospital in Thoothukudi, have complained that cash payments were not allowed to avail services at the scanning centre, said A Sankar, Executive Director, Empower India, a civil society organisation on Thursday.

He had recently received a complaint regarding this payment method restriction from a patient, who was asked to make the payment via digital wallet.

Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Limited has implemented cashless transactions at CT and MRI scanning centres across Tamil Nadu to improve efficiency and transparency.

To facilitate this transaction point-of-sale machines and soundboxes with QR codes for UPI payments have been made operational in Government Hospitals.

Though it’s a technological advancement, not all patients, especially the poor had any idea of how to make the digital payment. However, it did not imply that people were against technological progress.

Mostly, patients in need of medical care and emergency medical treatment are economically poor and they could only afford it through Government Hospitals.

Moreover, economically poor people don’t have smartphones to utilise the service in scanning centres. Citing these, he requested the Government Hospital administration to accept cash payments also to facilitate their needs.

G Sivakumar, Dean of the Medical College, when contacted, said in such cases the needy were being assisted to make payments digitally.

The State government is encouraging patients in need of the hospital scan to make digital payments to enhance service quality and to maintain a secure and transparent financial system. “It’s not confined to Thoothukudi alone and the same procedure is being followed across the state”, the Dean said.