Dr. MC Gupta shares his views: Should user charges be waived for all at AIIMS, Delhi?
M3 India Newsdesk Dec 09, 2019
Should user charges be waived for all at AIIMS, Delhi? Dr. MC Gupta opines on the recent move to revise user charges for patients at AIIMS all across India.
Dr. MC Gupta answers
1—The Health Minister, a doctor himself, (an ENT specialist), has proposed levying user charges on patients with paying capacity, exempting those who cannot pay.
2—I strongly support the above move.
3—The AIIMS RDA has opposed the move, saying this would be anti-public.
4—MY VIEW—I support user charges for those who can pay.
6—MY ARGUMENTS:
i)—Medical care is costly. It cannot be given free to those who can pay. Money does not grow on trees.
ii)—Anything given free is not valued. People attach value to something for which they pay.
iii)—The AIIMS has a huge budget, all borne by the government. Some burden, at least, should be borne by the public.
iv)—There is nothing in law against the proposed move. A PIL against the proposed move, at this stage or after it has been implemented, is likely to fail. I support all that is within law.
Disclaimer- The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of M3 India.
Content from the writer has been directly replicated on the website. No edits have been made.
The writer, Dr. MC Gupta is a practising lawyer specialising in medical negligence cases. He also has an MD Medicine from AIIMS, Delhi where he also worked as a faculty member for 18 years, later working another 10 years as a Professor and Dean at National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi, before pursuing law.
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