Cap on doctors’ fee
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 23, 2014 -
Everybody would welcome it except doctors. Already the medical fraternity is agitating with uproar. Of course we are referring to a proposal raised in the Rajya Sabha to put a cap on doctors’ fee. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has even decided to go to Court in case the proposal is passed by the Parliament.
The proposal titled “Regularization of Doctors’ Fees” was put forward by Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury.
It calls for formation of an expert committee to study the pattern of charging, classifying the kind of services offered by doctors, and putting a cap on the consultation charges accordingly. At present, doctors’ fees can range from a few hundreds to a few thousands depending on seniority and specialty.
The proposal, if transformed into a binding legislation, would be a huge relief to the country’s teeming millions of poor.
The reaction would be no different in Manipur too where more and more people are disillusioned with the performance and service given by Government hospitals. For the huge majority of the State’s population, medical insurance is a far cry with the exception of the privileged Government employees who are entitled to medical reimbursement.
With the doctors’ consultation fee rising every single year, vast majority of the people can no longer afford regular or periodic medical check-up. They go to doctors only when their health conditions compelled them to.
This is risky and it can even prove fatal but the consultation fee is too high. It is not only the consultation fee, the poor patients have to pay exorbitant fees for undergoing several medical/laboratory tests in private clinics or diagnostic centres. The situation is all the more poignant if one goes to rural and hill areas of the State where modern healthcare facilities are virtually non-existent.
The counter arguments, particularly the one put forward by the IMA is rather interesting. Their argument is, why only the medical professionals should be singled out while other professionals like lawyers and architects have been left out to fix their own remuneration.
“Regularization of consultation charges has never been done for any professional. Why only doctors?” This was how IMA reacted to the proposal. They have been contending that it is against the Constitution to fix remuneration of professionals.
Even though these arguments sound logical enough, medical professionals are conveniently overlooking the fact that their profession is basically humanitarian service.
The craze for money is not restricted to medical professionals alone but is applicable to all professionals. This is the order of the day in this highly materialistic age characterized by sheer consumerism.
Yet, service of doctors can never be compared with lawyers or architects. Healthcare is a distress good and not a luxury good. In another word, consultation of doctors is never a choice but compulsion.
The underlying essence behind the proposal is that if doctors follow a standard treatment protocol like in Western countries, rate variation will not take place.
We are also of the opinion that putting a cap on consultation fees of doctors would make healthcare service accessible to a much wider range of patients.
The spirit which is driving the proposal is ostensibly enactment of a standard protocol and it deserves appreciation.
It is with a conviction that a standard protocol can reduce unnecessary investigations, tests and medications that the proposal was raised in the Parliament.
But we don’t believe putting a cap on doctors’ consultation fee can solve the issue of healthcare services and its inaccessibility to the vast majority of the country’s population.
Along with fixing a cap on consultation fee, an effective mechanism is needed to regulate investigation and laboratory test fees charged by private clinics and diagnostic centres.
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