According to the court’s proposal, the private hospitals should treat free of cost 20 per cent of patients from below poverty line (BPL) of their total in-patient number in a year total. This facility should be for a period of 20 years and treatment for such 20 per cent in-patients should include medical, surgical and diagnostic services. All existing BPL cardholders would be eligible for the free treatment.
The High Court has asked the hospitals to file their affidavits within four weeks if the proposed scheme is acceptable to them. Thereafter the Union Government will have to consider the cases of individual hospitals and take a final decision before October 31 and make the modified scheme operation from January 2012. In case the scheme proposed by the court is not acceptable to the hospitals then their cases related to Customs Duty exemption would be dealt by the Director General of Health Services.
The original scheme envisaged in 1988 was having 10 per cent cap each on both inpatients as well as outpatients with persons having Rs. 500 or less annual income. The said scheme was discontinued after allegations of misuse and scam and notices were served on the hospitals to pay the import duty. The hospitals challenged the same before the court.