The Indian Medical Association (IMA)'s Maharashtra Chapter has demanded that the private sector should not be asked to treat non-COVID patients free of charge. The IMA had earlier decried the 'derogatory' notices sent by district collectors to doctors regarding acquiring their small hospitals for free treatment of non-COVID patients as well as COVID patients. It said the threat-like compulsion was in violation of the Union Health Ministry's directive.

State IMA president Dr Avinash Bhondwe told mid-day that private hospitals and doctors carried loans, monthly responsibilities, and compulsive expenses towards the healthcare set-ups. "Small private hospitals and doctors have difficult economics as compared to the corporate or multi-bed giant hospitals. They do not earn enough to sustain the monthly losses following near-shutdown during epidemic lockdown. Carrying out free treatment of non-COVID patients in these hospitals will make it difficult for them to survive," he said from Pune.