New Delhi: The Ashok Gehlot-led government and the private doctors in Rajasthan on Tuesday reached a consensus on the Right To Health Bill, which the latter had claimed would create hurdles in their smooth functioning and that the involvement of local authorities will increase. Chief Minister Gehlot broke the news on Twitter and said that he is happy that an agreement was reached between his government and the doctors on the Right To Health Bill, which was passed last month. 


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A delegation of doctors, including those from the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the private hospitals, the Nursing Homes Association, and the United Private Clinics and Hospitals Association (UPCHAR), held talks with the government and signed a memorandum on eight points. The protesting doctors said their major demand that private hospitals that have not taken any benefit from the government in the form of land or buildings at subsidised rates should be kept outside the ambit of the RTH Bill has been accepted.


"An agreement with the government has been arrived at. The private sector has completely been freed from the RTH Bill. The government will implement it from its resources and institutions. We have converted our rally into a 'Vijay Rally' and will hold a general body meeting to call off the agitation formally," the news agency PTI quoted the secretary of the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Society Dr Vijay Kapoor as saying.


Ashok Gehlot said that Rajasthan has now become the first state in the country to implement the 'Right to Health'.


"I am happy that finally an agreement has been reached between the government and the doctors on Right to Health and Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to implement Right to Health. I hope that the doctor-patient relationship will remain the same in the future as well," he said in a tweet in Hindi.



Earlier last week, Gehlot had met a delegation of the protesting doctors and had appealed to them to end their strike.


Doctors, however, had said that their one-point demand is the withdrawal of the bill and any discussion on the points of the bill will be held only after the government fulfills the demand.

What is Rajasthan's Right To Health Bill?


According to Rajasthan's Right To Health Bill, every resident of the state will have the right to emergency treatment and care 'without prepayment' at any 'public health institution, healthcare establishment, and designated healthcare centers'.


The Bill stated that free healthcare services, including consultation, drugs, diagnostics, emergency transport, procedure, and emergency care, will be provided at all public health institutions and select private facilities subject to conditions specified in the rules.


In a case of medico-legal nature, the Right to Health Bill said that no public or private hospital can delay treatment merely on the grounds of receiving police clearance.


However, after the Bill was passed, hundreds of doctors took to the streets and said that there was no need for this legislation.


They said the medical institutes were already providing services to the people and that the Bill would increase the 'inspector-raj' as the local authorities will create pressure on them in the name of inspection and action like seizure can be taken.


Subsequently, Rajasthan Chief Secretary Usha Sharma and other senior officials of the state government held various meetings with a delegation of the agitating private hospitals.