The State government is to ensure that Apollo Hospital and Nandamuri Basava Taraka Rama Rao Memorial Cancer Hospital, both in Hyderabad, extended free treatment to poor families to the extent of 15% and 25% of inpatient beds respectively.
Stating this before the Telangana High Court on Tuesday, Advocate General B.S. Prasad presented a copy of Government Order (GO) Ms. No. 80 which mentioned about establishment of a mechanism to ensure free treatment of those from poor families by these two hospitals.
The AG mentioned about the GO when a PIL petition came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Surepalli Nanda.
The plea was filed in 2020 when lakhs of people in the State were suffering with inadequate medical facilities with the pandemic COVID-19. The petitioner, Omim Maneckshaw, a septuagenarian, sought a direction to the government to ensure the two hospitals provided free treatment to poor families as per the conditions laid down while granting huge tracts of government land for establishing the hospitals.
The petitioner contended that the two hospitals were supposed to extend free treatment as the government gave away the lands at a concessional price. They were also supposed to provide free out-patient consultation to some extent, the petitioner stated. However, this was not being done by the two corporate hospitals especially during the incidence of COVID-19 in year 2020, he stated.
The division bench, which heard the plea earlier, sought to know why the poor families were not being extended free treatment at the hospitals despite the GOs which were issued at the time of allotment of lands to the two hospitals clearly laid down the conditions.
The AG on Tuesday, while furnishing a copy of the GO 80 intending establishment of a mechanism to ensure free treatment to the poor by the two hospitals, assured the bench that the government was committed to the conditions mentioned in the earlier and the present GO.
Important points of GO 80 issued on this July 16
*Apollo hospital, NBTRR memorial cancer hospital to treat poor families to extent of 15% and 25% of beds freely.
*All poor families under AB-PMJAY-Arogyasri are eligible to avail free treatment in these hospitals.
*NBTRR hospital should treat 40% of outpatients daily freely.
*Separate Free Outpatient Counter must be established for this purpose.
