Right to Health Bill in Rajasthan: Here is Why Doctors are Opposing the move

Jaipur: The "Right to Health Bill" that was proposed by the Rajasthan Government to ensure that the residents of the State can avail treatment at any hospital has made the medical fraternity in the State furious who are strictly opposing the bill terming it to be draconian and illogical.

Several Clauses of the bill have been pointed out by the doctors claiming that it lacks clarity and wants to delimit the powers of doctors. While several private hospitals have already kept their OPDs shut, now the doctors have given an ultimatum to the State saying that they will intensify their protest if the bill is not amended.

Referring to the Bill that aims to ensure the rights of the patient for availing quality healthcare, the doctors have mainly objected to the clauses that requires that patients will be treated for any medical emergency free of cost at both private and government hospitals.

While the State has not defined what is an emergency and how the cost of such medical expenses will be reimbursed to the private doctors and hospitals, the medical professionals in the State have demanded clarity regarding these issues.

Apart from this, the doctors under the Jaipur branch of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also opposed a specific clause of the bill that talks about setting up a separate grievance redressal committee for addressing the complaints by patients.

The doctors have pointed out that the concerned committee lacks representation from the medical fraternity and Zilla Parishad Pramukh and Panchayat Heads will decide the complaints of negligence against doctors and hospitals.

If such a committee comes into force, it will have the authority to take action on the basis of the complaints received from the patients, seize all documents and even close down hospitals. In fact, the proposed Health Law also clarifies that civil courts shall not have any jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding against the action taken by the concerned grievance redressal committee. 

Referring to the concerned clause, the doctors have questioned the requirement of such a committee when the already the Consumer Forum, State Medical Council and the National Medical Commission (NMC) is already operating to address the grievances of patients and doctors.

The doctors have submitted their demands regarding the amendments to the Government which has passed it to the Select Committee which will discuss the matter. 

"If the Government decides to go forward with the bill without amendments then definitely, doctors will have to come on the roads," warned Dr. Dr. Anurag Sharma, the Secretary of Jaipur branch of Indian Medical Association during his conversation with Medical Dialogues.

Medical Dialogues had reported last year that the Rajasthan Government had prepared a draft bill of the country's first Right to Health law that defines the rights of patients, their attendants, and healthcare providers, and provides for a mechanism to address the grievances of the stakeholders.

Also Read: Raj govt moving fast in the direction of 'Right to Health', says CM Ashok Gehlot

As per the Bill, the patients will have to the right to avail emergency treatment without paying for the same beforehand. Claiming that the bill lacks clarity the doctors have demanded that the State should define what is an "emergency".

Speaking about this, Dr. Anurag Sharma told Medical Dialogues, "For a patient even a throat pain can be an emergency, even sneezing of a child who is three months old can be an emergency for their parents. If we talk from medical point of view, emergency is a cardiac problem, brain stroke, road traffic accidents etc. So, they should define what is an emergency."

He also pointed out that the State has not clarified about who shall reimburse the cost of treatment provided to the patients free of cost. "If the private hospitals or the doctors cater to a patient in any emergency, there are many expenses for that purpose. Who is going to reimburse them, when will the reimbursement be done and how much will be reimbursed- there is no clarity about any of these things and the bill is very ambiguous," added Dr Sharma.

Apart from this, the doctors have strictly opposed to a certain clause of the Bill that talks about the proposed grievance redressal committee for addressing the complaints made by the patients. Alleging that the Bill wants to delimit the power of the doctors, Dr. Sharma added, "Now any patient can go to the committee and report about the hospital and doctor and the committee members have the authority to seize the documents or even the hospital without listening to anybody. Further the clause says that the doctor and the hospital is not eligible to go to the court even."

"They have also said that this committee will be comprising only of the Zilla Pramukh of the District and the Panchayat Sarpanch in case of villages. Means there will be no participation of any doctor in the said committee," he added.

Opining that there is no such need of grievance redressal, he questioned, "The National Medical Commission, State Medical Councils, Consumer Forum, other Forums are acting already. So where is the need for a separate grievance redressal commission?"

While the doctors have now submitted their demands regarding the need for amendments in the bill, Dr Sharma pointed out that in case of Rajasthan 60-65^ of the patients are catered by the private doctors and hospitals. "Despite being such important stakeholders, we were not called at any moment or juncture to discuss the bill."

Pointing out that the bill was opposed even by the members of the Government, Dr Sharma further informed that "The Select Committee, which was proposed to be formed around four months ago, has finally called us for discussion and we have submitted our demands as well."

"All the hospitals do not have the facilities to cater to all kinds of emergency facilities. So, the patients should be referred to only Super Speciality hospitals for availing emergency treatment. The Government should also clarify about the issue of reimbursement for providing treatment to patients at private hospitals," said Dr Anurag Dhakar, the president of Jaipur Medical Association.

"The proposed grievance redressal forum is one sided since the doctors cannot go to any court challenging the decisions. This will create an atmosphere of fear among the doctors who will not be able to function properly. This ultimately is not good for the patients as well. Even if such a forum is constituted, it should be led by an expert and specialist doctor. Even the majority of the members of the committee should be doctors only," he added.

Meanwhile, a recent report by the Times of India adds that private hospitals have kept their OPDs shut opposing the bill. In fact, at a recently held meeting at Jaipur Medical Association (JMA) building, the doctors under Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Society (PHNHS) and United Private Clinics and Hospitals of Rajasthan (UPCHAR) have decided to give the Government 72 hours time for amending the law, failing which they will intensify their protest.

“In the meeting, we unanimously decided to intensify our protest. We have given 72 hours to the state government and demanded that the Bill should not be proposed. We don’t want a bill that will affect private hospitals negatively,” Dr Vijay Kapoor, secretary, PHNHS told TOI.

Also Read: Right to Health Law to be enacted soon: CM Gehlot