India, Aug. 23 -- The joint charity commissioner's office, Pune division, has directed all charitable hospitals to ensure the availability of medical social workers round-the-clock to assist poor and underprivileged patients who seek treatment under the Indigent Patients Fund (IPF) scheme.

The orders were issued by the joint charity commissioner, Pune, Rajni Kshirsagar, on August 20, following a meeting of the monitoring committee.

"Healthcare is an essential service. Every charitable hospital must appoint medical social workers or coordinators in shifts to ensure 24/7 availability," said Kshirsagar..

The hospital administration has been told to provide the names and mobile numbers of appointed social workers or coordinators to the med...