Poor Patients & Private Hospitals

      In the absence of mandatory health insurance policy for every Indians, at the time of treatment by middle class or lower middle class families it make very big hole in their pockets especially when they need to opt treatment from private hospitals, although it is responsibility of concerned government to provide basic facilities like education, health etc.etc. to citizen of the country, but in score of cases it has seen that despite policies in place government does not bother to follow strictly if schemes started for weaker section of society are reaching to the concern or not, hence officials and authorize misuse up to some extent. In this list one of the entry is benefits taken by private hospitals to give free or at heavily discount price medical treatment to the patients belongs to the poor category, but once hospitals start operating then management skip to consider their commitments and in this regards government officials can also be blame as they don’t bother to follow if private hospitals which have taken benefits from the government to give free or heavily discount medical treatment to the poor families. Government of India has policy in place not only to give land at almost free to private hospitals but also considering to give relief to the hospitals to import medical equipments from foreign countries and will waive off excise duty up to 1.74 trillion rupees in the current financial year that is 2011-12.

     In the year 2007 one Public Interest Litigation(PIL) filed in the Delhi high Court relating to free medical facilities or at heavily discount rates medical treatment to poor families patients in the private hospitals which have taken benefits from government for lands and  have constructed hospitals on it. In its verdict Delhi high court ordered to the private hospitals management to give free treatment to the poor patients on the basis of contract they had sign with government for lease of land. Few private hospitals in the capital challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court that to give free treatment to the poor patients are not viable due to high cost diseases like Cancer, Surgery and Plastic Surgery. As per details thirty seven private hospitals in the capital have received lands to construct hospitals either on heavily discounted price or at nominal price after accepting that they will give treatment to poor families free of cost, but only ten hospitals are giving this facilities that is also little bit. Supreme Court in its verdict ordered that poor patients refer to private hospitals as government aspect and under this a separate account maintain which should have information of patients who get free treatment, also ordered to create 1,000 beds for poor patients who have monthly income of 6,422 rupees by private hospitals those who have get benefits from the government, so it mean that 25 percent OPD patients and 10 percent admitted patients mandatory for these hospitals to give free treatment, in response to this lawyer of private hospitals argue  its not possible to give free treatment to poor patients in all the cases, but Apex Court oversight this argument and add at the time of taking lands they had made commitments so now its their liabilities to keep their promise, and they can’t make excuses’ and skip from their responsibilities as they are bound to give free services to the poor families. So now it’s the liabilities of both the parties that is private hospitals and government to make it possible that targeted class of society get the advantages of free medical treatment from private hospitals.