Delhi Medical Association (DMA) has given advertisements in leading newspapers objecting the statement of Haryana Heath Minister Anil Vij calling death by medical negligence in a hospital as murder. DMA has also tried to justify its stand on declaring a live newborn child dead by giving argument that it was better if pre-matured child could not survive. But DMA is silent on many other important aspects of these private hospitals adopting every type of tactics for profiteering including not providing mandatory OPD facility for poor, and more importantly asking suppliers to print especially high Maximum Retail Price (MRP) which otherwise are available in the market in much less price. Even generic medicines available in market have some times MRP which provides exorbitant 400 per cent profit margin. Office-bearers of DMA must be aware of the fact that consultants are given daily business targets in private hospitals for making unwanted medical treatments.
Delhi government has made a smart move by cancelling license of Max Hospital (Shalimar Bagh, Delhi) not only for individual mistake of some doctors on declaring live newborn child dead, but also for many other irregularities observed in affairs of that hospital for which enquiry was being conducted. Disease can be treated at root-level by fixing some maximum profit margin on all items used in hospitals including generic medicines. Even Competition Commission of India should give its decision earliest on the matter already pending before it.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
