Rajasthan doctors call off protest against Right to Health act after govt accepts demands

Ashok Gehlot

The doctors of Rajasthan on April 4 called of their protest against the Right to Health act after the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government accepted the key demands of private healthcare providers.

The logjam between protesting doctors and Rajasthan government came to an end after an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) streamlining the provisions of the Right to Health in private hospital was agreed upon.

"All Private hospitals established without taking any facilities from the government in form of land and building at subsidised rate shall also be excluded from RTH act," the document read.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also announced that a consensus has been reached with protesting doctors over the Right to Health Bill.

Gehlot wrote on Twitter that Rajasthan was set to become the first state in the country to implement the Health Act.

The agreement marks a significant breakthrough in the ongoing negotiations between the state government and doctors' associations and brings the protests to an end.

The Right to Health act has also excluded private multi speciality hospitals, which have fewer than 50 beds.

T. Ravikant, IAS Principal Secretary, Medical Education Department, Rajasthan, who held the talks with protesting doctors, said the government will include their suggestions in the rules.

"Whatever the doctors have been asking, we had told them that we will incorporate those suggestions in the rules after a due diligence with them. The MoU contains the provisions that we have been assuring the doctors, to be doubly sure they wanted the provisions in form of an MoU," Ravikant told Moneycontrol.

When asked about other states contemplating on bringing a similar Right to Health bill, the senior bureaucrat said: "This is the CM's vision and we have been doing many things in this direction and we are working towards it".

Ravikant further said that said the MoU has been agreed upon by every faction of protesting doctors.

"The MoU has been signed by all the factions of protesting doctors..... The IMA has announced that protest will called off by 8pm," he added.

Also read: Why Rajasthan doctors are refusing Gehlot's Right to Health pill

The RTH act in Rajasthan will now be applicable in the private medical college hospitals, the hospitals established on public private partnership (PPP) mode and hospitals established after taking land from government free of cost or on subsidised rates as per their contract terms.

The Rajasthan government's ambitious act health act will also be applicable in the hospitals run by trusts.

The government has assured the protesting doctors that the police cases and other cases registered during agitation shall be withdrawn.

The Gehlot government will also open a single window system for licences and other approvals for hospitals.

Congratulations on the historic success of the medical agitation in Rajasthan. pic.twitter.com/EihVmurPZq

— Indian Medical Association (@IMAIndiaOrg) April 4, 2023

The doctors working in Rajasthan are on the roads protesting for more than a week against the Right to Health Bill passed by the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the assembly on March 21.

The medical fraternity protesting against the Right to Health Bill, which they claim was a ‘Black Bill’ framed against the healthcare workers in the state.