Rajasthan government passed a Right to Health Act ensuring free diagnosis and treatment which also includes emergency care. Although protests from private medical sector has been witnessed whereas other health experts applauded the initiation from the government.

On Tuesday, a protest rally has been initiated by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and another body representing private hospitals across Rajasthan in Jaipur. Both the associations stated through the campaign against the legislation that it would threatens the viability of private healthcare. Although on Monday Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), a statewide network of physicians and patients’ rights groups asked IMA to review their campaign against the legislation and negotiate with the government to demand the funds to make right to health a reality and address concerns.

The act provides a legal guarantee to emergency healthcare and public health services that would further implicate private hospitals to provide its services to the public without any guarantee of payment, IMA and other opponents stated. Further, the act proposed rules which stated a process for government reimbursements for healthcare services provided by private facilities, a physician mentioned. Only 900 among the 4,000 private clinics and healthcare institutions in Rajasthan currently enrolled under any government health scheme that involves reimbursements.

Furthermore, Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare (ADEH), a body of doctors, requested the Rajasthan government to address the issues because of which the protests commenced which includes lack of a clear definition of emergencies and expected responses. Moreover, ADEH is hoping that other state governments and the Centre would initiate similar legislation to make healthcare a legal right.