Right to Health Bill: Doctors call off 17-day stir after Rajasthan agrees to key demands

The doctors were protesting against the provisions of the Rajasthan Right to Health Bill, in which every resident would have had the right to emergency treatment and care “without prepayment” at any “public health institution, healthcare establishment, and designated healthcare centres”.

The doctors opposed the provision, saying it would adversely impact private hospitals.

“The benefit of the Bill will come only after thorough guidelines and rules are framed. It will benefit a large number of people in the state,” Dr Narendra Gupta of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan told South First.

“We are just asking to expedite the implementation of various further steps required for rolling out this important legislation, including early formulation of clear and implementable rules for the Act,” he added.

Also read: Why doctors across India are protesting the Right To Health Bill 

The accepted demands

The doctors withdrew their strike after the government agreed to keep private hospitals, which have not availed land at subsidised rates or other benefits from the state, outside the ambit of the proposed law.

Private multi-speciality hospitals with less than 50 beds would also not come under the law.

Among other provisions, the recently passed Bill allows people to avail emergency treatment at all government and designated private hospitals without payment.

The government would reimburse the private hospitals for providing treatment.

“An agreement with the government has been reached. Those private hospitals that have not taken subsidies from the government have been exempted from the new law. We have converted our rally into a ‘Vijay Rally’,” Dr Vijay Kapoor, secretary of the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Society (PHNHS), said in a statement.

“We decided to end our strike at a general body meeting convened after the talks with the government,” he added.

Expressing happiness over the development, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said Rajasthan would be the first state in the country to implement the Right to Health.

“It is a matter of happiness that we have arrived at a consensus on the Right to Health Bill. With this, Rajasthan will become the first state in the country to implement the Right to Health,” Gehlot said in a statement.

मुझे प्रसन्नता है कि राइट टू हेल्थ पर सरकार व डॉक्टर्स के बीच अंततः सहमति बनी एवं राजस्थान राइट टू हेल्थ लागू करने वाला देश का पहला राज्य बना है।

मुझे आशा है कि आगे भी डॉक्टर-पेशेंट रिलेशनशिप पूर्ववत यथावत रहेगी।#RightToHealth

— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) April 4, 2023

Consensus on eight points

Earlier, a delegation of doctors — including those from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the United Private Clinics and Hospitals Association of Rajasthan (UPCHAR), and the PHNHS — held talks with the government.

Both sides signed an agreement on eight points.

The doctors said the government accepted their major demand to keep private hospitals that have not availed any benefit from the state outside the Bill’s purview.

Congratulations on the historic success of the medical agitation in Rajasthan. pic.twitter.com/EihVmurPZq

— Indian Medical Association (@IMAIndiaOrg) April 4, 2023

Both sides agreed that the new law would apply to all private medical colleges and hospitals, hospitals operating on the public-private partnership (PPP) model, hospitals that got land free or on reduced rates, and hospitals run by trusts that have received plots at subsidised rates.

Rules to be relaxed

It was also agreed that the regularisation of hospitals under the “quota model” would be considered.

Rules would be relaxed to regularise buildings of those hospitals, which are functioning in residential premises. All cases registered during the 17-day agitation, too, would be withdrawn.

Besides, implementing a “single-window system” for issuing licences and other approvals to private hospitals, too, would be considered.

Also, it was agreed that the IMA would be consulted before making any changes in the rules related to the Right to Health law in the future.