Patients’ rights organisations have petitioned Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda for price control and transparency in private hospitals, creating a patient-friendly grievance redressal system and adopting the charter of patient rights finalised by the National Human Rights Commission last year.
By Sunday evening, the petition was signed by over 900 people. Activists hope it generates enough awareness ahead of an agitation in Delhi on February 26 with the same demands.
Patients to attend
“There are so many patient rights’ violations taking place every day. There are cases of overcharging, unethical medical practice and many other interrelated issues. We have raised all of them in the petition,” Dr. Abhay Shukla from the Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives (SATHI) said.
According to him, the agitation will see nearly 80 aggrieved patients and relatives who have suffered due to the healthcare system. Adya Singh’s parents, who were billed ₹16 lakh after she died of dengue in a corporate hospital in Gurgaon 2017, will also participate.
According to Dr. Kanchan Pawar from SATHI, there is a lack of accountability and transparency in the private sector.
“Even as we have been pushing for the strengthening of the public healthcare system, one cannot deny that 70% of patients go to the private sector for treatment. The discrepancy is so vast that a particular surgery may cost ₹20,000 in one set up and ₹70,000 in another, in the same city. Thus, we need a price regulation in these hospitals,” Dr. Pawar said.
The petition demands that the government immediately adopt the 17-point patients’ rights charter that calls for the right to choose the source for obtaining medicines or tests when admitted in a hospital, take discharge of patient, or body of a deceased without being detained on procedural grounds, among other provisions.
‘Take a stand’
“It is high time that this charter is adopted and implemented across the country. It would provide much-needed protection to people seeking healthcare. We urge you to not succumb to pressure by private medical lobbies and take a stand to protect the full range of rights of millions of patients to whom you are accountable as the Health Minister,” it said.
“Although your ministry is eagerly rolling out the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, requiring millions of patients to seek care in private hospitals at public expense, it seems you have not given comparable priority to protect the rights of patients who obtain care in private hospitals and suffer innumerable violations. It is high time that these skewed priorities are changed,” the petition said.
