The Himachal Pradesh government has not recommended charging of consultation fee of Rs 10 from patients at the time registration but has authorised patient welfare committees to levy user charges on need basis to strengthen and improve their services, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Thursday.
"We are making hospitals 'autonomous' and if Rogi Kalyan Samities comprising local people deem it fit to levy charges to strengthen and improve their services, they are free to do but there is no compulsion and the Cabinet Sub-committee has only sought opinion in this regard," he told mediapersons here.
According to a notification issued by the state health department on Monday, Rogi Kalyan Samities have been authorised to levy user charges on need basis to strengthen and improve services like sanitation, hygiene and maintenance of infrastructure and equipment.
"A consultation fee of Rs 10 would be charged from all patients at the time of registration," the notification read. Earlier, registrations and consultations were provided free of cost to the patients.
Sukhu said if Rogi Kalyan Samities are satisfied that the financial positions of a hospital are good, they have the option of not imposing the charges.
Former chief minister Jairam Thakur had on Wednesday slammed the Sukhu government and said, "There is nothing left on earth on which it has not imposed tax." Terming the order "anti-people and inhuman", he said that such decisions of the government to collect money from every sick person for treatment in an emergency situation, speaks volumes of the helpless condition prevailing in the state.
Meanwhile, Sukhu also said that an 82-year-old woman who was having cough and cold has tested positive for coronavirus in Nahan in Sirmaur district.
The woman did not go outside her house and it has to be found out how she got infected, he said, adding there could be some flaw in the test but the government is fully prepared to deal with any situation.
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