Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said that they have reached a consensus with protesting doctors over the Right to Health (RTH) bill. CM Gehlot tweeted that Rajasthan will now become the first state to implement the Right to health act.
He said, “I am happy that finally an agreement has been reached between the government and the doctors on the Right to Health and Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to implement the Right to Health.”
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association and the United Private Clinics and Hospitals Association (UPCHAR), held talks with the government and signed a memorandum on eight points.
Ever since the bill was passed on March 28, doctors were demanding to withdraw the bill they had termed the bill as “unconstitutional” as they claimed that it would increase bureaucratic interference in the functioning of private hospitals.
Rajasthan on March 21, passed this bill which gives every resident of the state the right to emergency treatment and care “without prepayment of requisite fee or charges” by any public health institution, health care establishment and designated health care centres.
It defines a “health care establishment” as the whole or any part of a public or private institution, facility, building or place operated to provide health care. If a patient does not pay the charges after emergency care, stabilisation and referral, the government will reimburse the health care provider.
The Bill, which was introduced in the Assembly on September 22 and later referred to a Select Committee, was approved by voice vote in the House. The bill grants every resident of the state the right to emergency treatment care “without the payment of any required fee or charges” from any public health institution, health care establishment, or designated health care centre.
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