Delhi govt asks all hospitals to report on user charges

New Delhi: Following reports that some government hospitals have not waived off user charges for tests as announced by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal last year, Delhi government has asked all hospitals under it to provide status reports on the direction.

The CM last year in February had announced that user charges for diagnostic tests and for private rooms will be waived off and medicines and diagnostic tests (MRI, CT scan) will be made free, in all state-run hospitals. User charges are nominal amounts collected by public hospitals for certain tests and imaging services.

The government directed to convert the single bed private rooms into twin sharing rooms so that more patients can be accommodated. The health minister on April 28 wrote to the health secretary about reports of some hospitals like Guru Nanak Eye Centre not following the government’s directives and asked him to look into the matter. “It has been brought to my notice that some hospitals are continuing with the practice of private rooms and charging for the same. Also that in certain hospitals, private rooms are only being provided to the staff of the hospitals or their relatives and other VIPs,” wrote health minister Satyendar Jain to the health secretary Madhup Vyas.