Around a hundred people associated with different organisations staged a demonstration outside the district administrative complex here on Saturday opposing the attempts to dilute the proposed amendments to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act. Holding placards and raising slogans, the agitating activists condemned the government for yielding to the pressure tactics of the private doctors. They demanded that the proposed amendments should be tabled in the Legislature without any modification.
“The proposed amendments were rational and reasonable. They were designed to safeguard the interests of the common people by protecting them from medical malpractices and irrational pricing. It is unfortunate that the government is bending to the pressure tactics of the private medical establishment lobby and diluting the amendments,” Teena Xavier, a health rights activist associated with Karnataka Janarogya Chalavali, said during the agitation.
She also took exception to the way the government had convened the meeting of only the agitating doctors excluding the other stakeholders such as health rights activists. She warned that the people’s agitation would be intensified, if the government tabled the amendment Bill in the diluted form.
A memorandum was submitted to the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Activists from Karnataka Domestic Workers Union, Samaja Parivartana Janandolana, Karnataka Slum Janandolana, Swaraj Abhiyan, Seva Sangam Samsthe, Community Development Foundation and other outfits had participated.
