Jaipur: The Right to Health bill was passed on Tuesday by the Rajasthan Assembly amid the ongoing protests by doctors. Meanwhile, police used water canons to disperse the protesting doctors when they tried to head towards the Assembly. Earlier, a five-member delegation of the doctors went to meet health minister demanding withdrawal of the bill. Having failed to get any response from the government, the protesting doctors started marching towards the Assembly. A huge number of police personnel were deployed in the area.
After tabling the bill, state health minister Parsadi Lal Meena said it would be an insult to the House to withdraw the bill on the behest of the doctors. He claimed that the government has included all the suggestions that were given by them. "The bill was sent to the select commitee and six meetings were held. The chief minister himself spoken to the doctors. It is now unjustified to discard the bill. The government has accepted the suggestion to reimburse the fee of the patient who gets admitted in emergency if he/she does not have the financial condition to pay," Meena said. As demanded, the government has also replaced the panchayat representatives by two members of Indian Medical Association in its committee but they are continuing their protest, he said. "Their attitude shows that they have forgotten their professional ethics that entails a doctor to primarily treat his/her patient," he said. According to the health minister the agitation of the doctors is unfair and against the interest of the people. He said doctors of renowned private hospitals, whom the government had given land at subsidised rates, were protesting against the government.
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Hitting out at hospitals, Meena said there were complaints that patients having Chiranjeevi health insurance cards were refused treatment. The health department has earlier suspended doctors and hospital authorities in this connection, he added. Next, he also criticised private hospitals for withholding bodies of the patients till bills are paid. He said that the government would not tolerate hospitals to function in this manner. The minister also warned doctors that they cannot scare the government by their agitations.
The Right to Health bill ensures free healthcare services to people at hospitals and clinics, including private organisations. Doctors running private clinics claimed that the bill will bring forth more interference from the bureaucrats and also deteriorate the quality of the healthcare services provided in private establishments.
