Gehlot Swallows A Bitter Pill

From a stalemate to reconciliation, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had to finally relent on his tough stance in order to end the two-week-long complete shutdown of private healthcare services in the state.

- Rohit Parihar

What was being touted as a landmark legislation, the Rajasthan Right to Health (RTH) Bill ended up paralysing the state's healthcare system after it was hurriedly pushed through the state assembly on March 21.

Though initially refusing to roll it back, Gehlot on April 4 agreed to make changes to the rules and regulations, and till then put in abeyance the new law's enforcement, following overnight hectic parleys to end the impasse with the representatives of striking private hospitals and doctors.

Under the proposed law, every resident of the state was to have the right to get emergency treatment without the "prepayment" of any fee at any healthcare facility, including private ones. The government would then have reimbursed the institutions if the patient failed to pay the fee after treatment. The Congress had promised the law in its election manifesto in 2018. But a couple of contentious clauses inserted in the original draft, purportedly pushed by the "left lobby" without taking private health institutions on board, ended up raising hackles.