Asserting that the government is shortly launching a universal healthcare scheme by merging present schemes, Health Minister Shivananda Patil has appealed to doctors to cooperate with the government by agreeing to charges for various treatments fixed by the government to help the poor.
Speaking after inaugurating the newly-installed CT scan unit at the government hospital on Sunday, Mr. Patil said the government is fixing the charges after consultations with medical experts. “The objective is clear; we want to provide affordable healthcare to all. To achieve this, the complete cooperation of the medical fraternity is essential. They should come forward to join hands with the government to ensure that deserving people get affordable treatment,” he said.
He expressed dismay over some doctors becoming money-minded and exploiting the poor in this regard. Some doctors, for higher commissions, prescribe only expensive medicines to patients, which, he said, was spoiling the image of doctors in general.
“Not all doctors are indulging in such practices, but because of a few, people blame every doctor of wrongdoing. The medical fraternity must introspect on the need for self-regulation,” he said.
Mr. Patil said that despite the government spending around ₹9,000 crore annually on medical care, the facilities are still not reaching people. He sought the cooperation of the doctors to achieve this objective.
With regard to installation of CT scans in government hospitals, he said that government trying to provide this facility to as many hospitals as possible for free for the poor.
Already, five district government hospitals had MRI facilities.
Admitting that many rich people have obtained BPL cards to get government benefits, he said that efforts are being made to remove such BPL cards.
