NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled that all private hospitals that were granted public land here at cheaper rates would provide free treatment to poor patients at the rate of 10 per cent in the Indoor Patient Department (IPD) and 25 per cent in the Out-door Patient Department (OPD) of their total respective treatment capacities.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice H.R. Malhotra pronounced the judgment on a public interest litigation by Ashok Aggarwal of non-governmental organisation Social Jurist seeking implementation of the land deed agreement entered into with these hospitals providing for, among other things, free treatment to certain percentage of poor patients out of their total treatment capacities.

Ruling that no charges would be levied on poor patients, the Bench said: "Every person who has no income or has income below Rs.5,000 per month shall be treated under this category until a Committee constituted by the Court takes a final view on the fixation of criterion of minimum income for receiving benefit under this scheme.'' "The free treatment means totally free and not partly free or partly paid; the free IPD patient will not have to pay for anything, including medicines and medical consumables, as in the case of government hospitals'', the Bench said. "They will be provided free admission, bed, medication, treatment, surgery facility, nursing facility and consumables and non-consumables. The hospitals charging any money from such patients shall be liable to be proceeded against in accordance with the law. Besides that, this would be treated as violation of the orders of the Court'', the judgment clarified.

The judgment further stated that every Government hospital should establish a special referral centre for referring patients in critical conditions, if necessary, to speciality or super speciality private hospitals.

However, the private hospitals could also admit patients on their own, the judgment stated.

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