The Rajasthan legislative assembly on Tuesday passed the Rajasthan Right to Health (RTH) Bill 2022 where the people of the state will be entitled for emergency care in private hospitals without any pre-payment.
The requisite fees will be reimbursed by the state government, if the patient is unable to pay.
According to the bill, the patient during emergency treatment such as accidents, snake or animal bite and any other emergency decided by the state health authority will be treated without prepayment of requisite fee by public health institution, health care establishment and designated health care centres, qualified to provide such care or treatment accordantly to their level of health care.
No health care provider shall delay treatment merely on the grounds of receiving police clearance or a police report.
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If a patient does not pay the charges, healthcare provider shall be entitled to receive requisite fee and charges or proper reimbursement from state government, the bill stated.
Any person who knowingly contravenes any provision of this act or any rule made thereunder shall be punishable with a fine up to ₹10,000 for the first contravention, and up to ₹20,000 for the subsequent contraventions.
Health minister Parsadi Lal Meena said the government is committed to providing healthcare facilities to the people.
There have been complaints that some private hospitals do not treat patients in Chiranjeevi health insurance scheme despite the patient having the Chiranjeevi card and therefore the bill was brought, he said replying to the debate on the same.
The state is becoming a model state in the field of health and 7% of the budget is being spent on the health sector.
‘Right to health’ is in the interest of the public. The state government had sent this bill to the select committee on the basis of the suggestion of all the members. The suggestions of all the members and doctors have been included in the bill, said Meena.
He added that the state government has provided land to big hospitals at a concessional rate. There is a provision to link these hospitals under the Right to Health Bill.
Commenting on the agitation by private doctors, the minister said all the suggestions have been accepted in the report of the select committee.
“Doctors are agitating despite the fact that their suggestions have been accepted. This is not justified. They are demanding withdrawal of the bill, is it justified?” he asked.
After the reply, the bill was passed by voice vote.
The bill was introduced in assembly last September but it was sent to the select committee.
The committee gave its report and the bill was amended accordingly and was passed today.
Reacting on the passage, deputy leader of opposition (LoP), Rajendra Rathore said, “We want that RTH to come but in a practical manner, and all stakeholders should be taken together.”
He suggested that RTH should be imply to hospitals, that are 50-bed multispecialty hospitals as it has all kinds of facilities; the designated hospitals should be defined; and there should be a single window for grievance redressal.
BJP lawmaker Jogeshwar Garg raised the issue of reimbursement saying that it gets delayed for 2-3 years, and that the stakeholders should be taken in faith before bringing such a bill.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, condemning police action on doctors, the opposition BJP staged a walkout during the zero hour.
Private hospital owners and doctors from Rajasthan were protesting in Jaipur on Monday, demanding withdrawal of the “draconian” Right to Health Bill.
During zero hour, deputy LoP Rathore had raised the issue of using force on protesting doctors.
“The police lathicharge on doctors is condemnable, even women were beaten. They weren’t heard properly. The incident should be judicially probed,” he said.
