A grim scenario emerges from a study of the 110th annual report of The Bomanjee Dinshaw Petit Parsee General Hospital (PGH) for 2022-2023. While the overall number of patients treated has decreased, the gross operating loss has increased to Rs 16.66 crore from Rs 15.86 crore in the previous year. One reason could be a rise in the number of subsidized patients (303 from 264 in the previous year).
Income from the Hospital’s operations has also declined to Rs 18.82 crore as compared to Rs 23.22 crore in the prior year probably as the total number of patients admitted declined: 1,577 (802 females and 775 males) from 1,833 (936 females and 897 males) in the previous year. Accordingly, total expenditure for the year also was lower, Rs 35.43 crore as versus Rs 39.08 for the previous year.
"Donations in Aid” dropped 50% to Rs 7.13 crore from Rs 13.62 crore for 2021-2022. But the 2021-2022 figure appears to be a record high, possibly due to more inflows during Covid. In the year prior (2020-2021) the amount was Rs 7.92 crore while for the three years prior to that the totals were Rs 3.02 crore (2019-2020), Rs 4.23 crore (2018-2019) and Rs 4.2 crore (2017-2018) (see "To have and have not,” Parsiana, October 7-20, 2022).
The saving grace was interest earned from investments (Rs 9.14 crore) which enabled the Hospital to end with a surplus of Rs 2.47 crore. The surplus in the year prior, where donations were at a record high, was nearly three-and-a- half times that amount (Rs 8.61 crore). If donations remain static or decrease in the current year, the PGH will find it difficult to meet the healthcare needs of an aging community that has fewer earning members.