Jaipur, Rajasthan

The Right to Health Bill has set the cat amongst the pigeons in Rajasthan. The state has been witnessing protests by private doctors ever since the bill was passed in the Rajasthan Assembly on March 21. Almost all private hospitals in Jaipur have stopped functioning and are on strike. Doctors are saying it violates their right to freedom to practise.

Rajasthan is the first and the only state in the country to legislate the right to health — Rajasthan Right to Health Care Act, 2022. It has provision for mandatory free-of-cost emergency treatment for every resident of the state at both the government hospitals and the privately-run institutions. But private doctors across the state have been at loggerheads with the state government about the legislation. They fear that it will increase bureaucratic interference in their functioning.

Hundreds of private doctors gathered at the Jaipur Medical Association headquarters at JLN Marg, Jaipur yesterday on March 23 to plan their next strategy. A few doctors had on March 22, burnt the copies of their Rajasthan Medical Council registration, in protest. There are currently 2,400 private hospitals and nursing homes in Rajasthan with 55,000 practising private doctors.

“This bill will raise corruption and bureaucratic interference in our functioning. We provide good quality facilities to the patients. But, when this bill comes into play everyone and anyone will expect to get free service. This will put our livelihood in trouble,” Dr Vijay Kapoor, secretary of the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Society, told Gaon Connection.

“If need be we will go to the Rajasthan High Court to challenge this,” Vijay Kapoor told Gaon Connection. All the private hospitals and nursing homes have decided to continue their strike, he added.

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As per the Bill, patients can avail emergency care in private hospitals without prepayment. Later, if the patients are unable to pay the treatment bill, the state government would reimburse the private hospital. 

But, public health organisations have welcomed the Bill. This bill is a life saver for the general public, Chhaya Pachauli, state coordinator of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, a civil society organisation, based in Rajasthan, told Gaon Connection.

As per the Bill, patients can avail emergency care in private hospitals without prepayment. Later, if the patients are unable to pay the treatment bill, the state government would reimburse the private hospital.

“The private doctors and institutions were functioning without any monitoring by the state government. Now, with the Right To Health Bill, they will be answerable for their actions, which private doctors do not want,” she said. “The bill is a welcome move for the well-being of the public but it is a weaker version of the original draft and more changes are needed,” she added.

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Doctors unhappy with the bill

There were rumbles of discontent from the medical fraternity even when the draft of the Right To Health Bill was published in 2019. And, after it was passed by the Rajasthan State Assembly on March 21, the displeasure of the doctors has become more vocal.

When the draft of the Right to Health Bill was first published in 2019, there were objections raised by private doctors. The state government then made some changes in the bill, but the doctors are demanding complete withdrawal of the bill.

“The Right to Health Bill is against the rights of private doctors in Rajasthan and we will fight it,” said a doctor who was addressing hundreds of other doctors from private hospitals at the Jaipur Medical Association in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The state government has ruled out any changes to the Bill. Reacting to the protests, Rajasthan’s health minister Parsadi Lal Meena said that there would be no amendment in the Right to Health Bill, as it has become a law and everyone has to accept it.

“Changes were made after taking into consideration the demand of the doctors and private stakeholders. But this bill is beneficial for the general public that will provide better medical facilities to them,” Meena had declared on March 20, this month, as he responded to questions in the state assembly.

Meanwhile, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan is demanding stricter provisions under the Bill. According to Pachauli, in the original draft of the Bill, patients could lodge complaints about private hospitals through a helpline or a web-portal. “Now the patients can only complain to the administrative head of the same private hospital against whom they have a grievance. This will dilute the aim,” she pointed out.

Rising protests

On March 21, private doctors, members of many associations of doctors and hospitals including the Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, the Private Hospital and Nursing Home Society, and the United Private Clinics and Hospitals of Rajasthan, arrived in Jaipur from across Rajasthan to protest the bill.

They gathered at the Jaipur Medical Association premises at the SMS Hospital in Jaipur, from where they marched towards the state assembly before they were stopped by the police at Statue Circle.

Doctors tried to get past the barricade and in the tussle between them and the police, many of them were injured.

On Tuesday, March 21, the members of the legislative assembly of the Bharatiya Janata Party, staged a walk out from the state assembly session in protest against the lathi-charge on the doctors.

“Thousands of doctors were handled with brutality by the state government. We oppose the forceful implementation and this brutal handling of the doctors,” Rajendra Rathore, leader of the opposition, declared in the State Assembly.

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