Bangalore, November 24 2017: Residents of Bangalore are disappointed as the government has given into the demands of the private hospitals.
Dr. Silvia, who has actively opposed the demands of the private hospitals, said in a recently held press conference that the protest is not “anti-doctor but it is pro-patient”.
She added, that they wanted transparency in the system because the doctors extort money from patients. The original bill that was brought in by the government was actually going to benefit the patients and was an important step towards regulating the private hospitals which are otherwise doing whatever they want. The administrative bodies of the private hospitals are forcing the doctors to carry out unnecessary tests which is increasing the billed amount, she said. Another problem they were addressing was that many influential and powerful groups like the Indian Medical Association (IMA) are forcing the doctors to . join the protests against the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act (KPME) amendments.
Nageregere Ramesh, a resident of Bangalore who participated in the conference held on Monday, said, “Due to these protests many lives have been lost. The doctors’ protests were completely unnecessary and it just shows how little the doctors care about the patients. We wanted the full implementation of the KPME bill without any changes. But we are organising a meeting with more NGOs, our first conference on Monday was a success and ever since, we have been receiving phone calls from people who agree with our cause. So we will be organising another meet soon where we will have more people come in.”
He added, that the 17 organisations who had participated in the initial meet were also looking forward to organise a meeting with other volunteers who agreed to the same cause.
Preeti Shankar, a General Physician at Apollo Clinic said, “The KPME bill is completely unnecessary. I am not aware of the IMA or any other group influencing us. The government cannot regulate us because it has not invested in us. We are like any other sector and this bill is targeting us. Some doctors in Bangalore charge as low as Rs. 5 but we cannot do that because we have to maintain the technologies that we use. This bill can ruin healthcare in the city.