Belagavi: Amidst the standoff between doctors and the State Government over the proposed amendments to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act, Health and Family Welfare Minister K.R. Ramesh Kumar announced yesterday at the Winter Session of Karnataka Assembly that a free healthcare scheme for all State residents will be implemented next month. “From December 10, Taluk and District hospitals across the State will have advanced facilities such as MRI Scan, Dialysis etc., and to take the benefits of this free healthcare services, people can just produce their Aadhaar Card and there is no necessity of producing BPL or APL cards,” he said. The Minister claimed that as the Government was introducing such a facility, private hospital management lobby was instigating the doctors to go on a strike. Ramesh Kumar said that his department had consulted several stakeholders when drafting the Bill, including private medical practitioners, who had suggested a few changes. He said that the Government has a right to fix prices for treatments in hospitals since they are empanelled by the government to provide treatment under various health schemes. Under the new Bill the government proposes to fix charges for various treatments in a hospital and for prominent display of these charges at the hospitals. It also prescribes a six-month to three-year jail term and a fine of Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 5 lakh for officials of hospitals violating government price norms. It says that hospitals must hand over bodies to family members soon after death instead of holding on to it and demanding payment of hospital dues. “All the amendments are pro-people and are against the hospitals that are fleecing the patients,” the Minister said. The government had the “moral responsibility to protect the interests of the poor” through such a Bill, which seeks to fix rates for different medical services and introduce stringent action for violations, he said. He accused the private medical doctors of trying to “arm twist” the government on the KPME amendments. He wondered how ethical it was on the part of the medical fraternity in getting their demands met at the “point of gun.” Ramesh Kumar said doctors should realise that they have a responsibility in society. “The Bill is still in a very initial stage. We have told them (doctors) that they will be consulted before the final version of the Bill is tabled in the House. Yet, they are making a mountain out of a molehill,” the Minister said. Kumar recalled that representatives of doctors had said they had “no issues” when the draft of the Bill was sent to them. “I was taken aback when they suddenly changed their stand and met the Governor opposing the provisions of the Bill,” he said. Kumar also blamed a section of the private medical fraternity of spreading a disinformation campaign against him through social media.
House cannot be coerced not to discuss KPME Bill
