Apollo gets stiff dose from HC

Hospital Told To Reserve 200 Beds For Free Treatment Of Poor

Declaring that healthcare is a fundamental right of every person, Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Indraprastha Apollo Hospital to reserve at least 200 beds for the poor people and provide them free treatment.

Slamming Apollo for not providing free treatment to poor patients, a division bench of chief justice A P Shah and justice Manmohan directed the hospital to comply with its agreement with the state government under which the hospital had committed to provide free treatment to 40% poor patients in OPD and 33% poor patients in Indoor Patient Department.

‘‘The hospital has made a complete mockery (of agreement) by not providing free treatment to the poor people,’’ the HC said while slapping a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the hospital. The court’s order came on a PIL filed by NGO All India Lawyers Union through its counsel Ashok Aggarwal, alleging the hospital was violating court’s previous order on the matter.

‘‘Poor people have been deprived of their right to free treatment and right to health is a fundamental right of every citizen... not only the government but also individual, group of individuals and NGOs are obliged to ensure it,’’ the court said. The bench said patients belonging to BPL families, class III and IV government employees, poor professionals, self-employed and people recognized by the health secretary as the poor would be eligible for free treatment.

The HC asked Delhi government to direct all its hospitals to set up a referral centre for sending poor patients for free treatment at Apollo Hospital. For that, chief secretary of Delhi government has been asked to draw guidelines within four weeks. The state government has been told to set up a committee that will monitor whether the hospital is implementing the court direction or not.

Apollo, meanwhile, has been told to appoint a nodal officer to take care of the case referred by the government hospitals for free treatment. The bench also asked the hospital management to maintain record of patients treated for free and send it to the state government and Directorate of Delhi Health Services.

In September 1998, the HC had directed Apollo Hospital to follow its agreement with the city government, said the NGO. According to the NGO, Delhi government had spent Rs 16 crore on the construction of the hospital, apart from allotting 15 acre land at a token price of Re 1.
Source:- The Times of India 23 September 2009 Page No.11 Delhi