The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi Government under pressure from hospital lobby

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 02, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Delhi Government under pressure from hospital lobby

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, JULY 1. Even as the Delhi Health Minister, Yoganand Shastri, asserted that there was no question of reducing the 25 per cent quota for poor patients in private hospitals, the Delhi Government has come under intense pressure from the private hospitals lobby for pegging the quota between 5 per cent and 10 per cent in all such hospitals which have been allotted land at throwaway prices by the Delhi Development Authority.

Although Dr. Shastri maintained that there would be no compromise on the quota for poor patients, officials dealing with the issue are understood to have virtually thrown up their hands, expressing inability to get free medical treatment for the poor. Any surrender to the private hospital managements would go against the spirit of governance of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre that is working with a focus on poor and farmers.

Experts feel that any kind of dithering on the issue could not only invite the wrath of the Court as the matter is sub judice, but also provoke strong reactions from the common man. The Sheila Dikshit Government already faces a situation where it has come under fire for going soft on the private hospitals which had been given land for these institutional projects at dirt cheap prices. "We have sought a report from all the hospitals within six months. No final decision has been taken. The proposal for around 10 per cent has come from the managements of the private hospitals. They are refusing to go beyond this,'' said Dr. Shastri.

Representatives of leading private hospitals in the Capital had a meeting with Dr. Shastri on Wednesday and reportedly expressed their inability to provide 25 per cent quota for poor patients in their hospitals. In fact, the Escorts Heart Institute had some time ago proposed that they were ready to pay compensation for the land price and also buy the Government share in the institute in order to get rid of the quota in their hospital.

At the time of allotment of land to these hospitals, the lease deed of DDA had made it clear that they would have to provide free medical care to 25 per cent patients in form of hospital beds and other facilities. However, for the past many years, these hospitals have violated these norms with successive Governments looking the other way. The court is seized of the matter and any kind of back tracking by the Delhi Government could invite adverse remarks. What has made the task of the Health Department all the more difficult is that the Education Department had been by and large successful in getting the public schools to agree to a 20 per cent quota in their schools.

Interestingly, not only the court but also the legislature is of the view that the private hospitals should stick to the agreements and any violation should be dealt with sternly even if it meant approaching the court for the same.

The MLAs have been irked by the fact that these private hospitals have virtually become commercial medical shops where poor patients and the common man are hardly given any preferential treatment despite a provision for it.

These MLAs are also upset over the fact that the letters issued by the them or the Health Minister asking for accommodating patients under this quota are not taken seriously and in a majority of the cases the patients are turned back without proper treatment something that could also come under the purview of human rights violation.

"We will not accept anything less than 25 per cent quota for poor patients. This is the commitment of our party and Government and we will not go back on it,'' Dr. Shastri stated.

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