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Top Law News

SC ire at private hospitals denying free treatment to poor

New Delhi, Sep 1, The Supreme Court has taken serious note of the attitude of private hospitals in denying free medical treatment to the poor after getting land at highly concessional rates.

The Court’s stricture came while dismissing a batch of petitions filed by private hospitals expressing their inability to provide free medical treatment to the poor.

A bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik, while dismissing the petitions, noted that private hospitals cannot violate the terms of land allotment agreement and the hospitals will have to provide free medical treatment to 25 per cent poor OPD patients and 10 per cent inpatients.

The private hospitals while getting land at throwaway prices agreed to provide free medical treatment to the poor as per the terms and conditions of the agreement but after getting land they forgot their obligations towards the poor and the weaker sections of the society, the respondents said.

Unaided private schools also refused to admit the students belonging to the weaker sections of the society as the school managements are not inclined to fulfil their obligations towards poor after getting land at throwaway prices, according to the respondents.