Very well analysed and written in my opinion.
Felt like sharing. Apologies if it hurts anyone's feelings 🙏
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This was written by Dr Dwarkanath Srinivas,
Professor of Neurosurgery
NIMHANS
BMC – 1991 batch

Anyhow, this is his opinion on the KPME act

"First the disclaimer, As a Central govt. employee I will not be affected by the act.

While the move to streamline functioning and reduce overall healthcare costs is always welcome, the government has gone overboard with KPME act

Imagine the following scenarios
Scenario 1: You go to a lawyer, pay him his fees, however high they may be and the case is argued in court. You lose the case and then file a case against the lawyer saying that you are the aggrieved party. This is heard by a panel consisting of some people (could be your neighborhood shopkeeper/local corporator too) who have absolutely no idea of law and they decide that the lawyer has cheated you and he should go to Jail for it.
Ludicrous isn’t it. Absolutely! Now just replace the Lawyer with the doctor and the court with hospital.
Does it make sense now? Absolutely not!
Medicine is never a perfect science and never will be.

Scenario No 2: Try calling a plumber/Electrician/car mechanic and ask him to inspect the drainage system /electrical wiring/car, he will do so and charge his prescribed fee. Now tell him beforehand that he will be paid only Rs 100 for it. You will get two responses
Response 1: The phone line is cut
Response 2: The customer is asked whether he is mad.
Now all of you try this and find out how many plumber/electricians are willing to come for Rs 100 for a home visit
Best of luck if you find one!
Now replace the Plumber/electrician with a Doctor but with the same fees.

These two scenarios are what the crux of the entire bill is and is based on entirely one foundation

The bloated egos of the Karnataka State Government ministers -Period

What is the healthcare scenario in India?
1) There are a few central government hospitals catering to the general population (AIIMS and AIIMS like institutions, PGI,JIPMER,NIMHANS, SCTIMST, Tata memorial,NEGRIMS) – max 10-15000 beds) for a population of 1.3 billion – Well-funded but capacity is woefully inadequate with waiting list running to 3-5 years for elective surgeries. They are cheap because they are subsidised by the tax payers money.
2) Few hospitals catering to specific groups of people (Command hospitals/ESI/ Railway hospitals)
3) State government hospitals/district hospitals/taluk hospitals under the state government hospitals: This is the backbone of the state health system which needs to be focused upon but ignored by the state. These are woefully funded without infrastructure and the state keeps them in a perpetual penury. The only state hospital in Karnataka which can proudly hold up its head is Jayadeva Institute
This state of neglect has led to proliferation of the private sector and in the state of Karnataka provides 70-80% of medical care.
4) Corporate/Private sector: Whether one wants to admit or not, it provides more than 60% of the healthcare and a very high quality one at that in the country. Take a pause to reflect that none of the advanced facilities provided in these centres is subsidised or provided by the government. So if u need good facilities u have to pay. The private sector especially in districts and smaller towns provide quality care where previously it was lacking.
One may argue that this sector,especially the corporate hospitals are too highly priced, patients are being cheated etc, but for this, one needs discussions and a well thought out plan with inputs from everybody and agreeable to all.

One could probably start with abolition of all MBBS tuition fees in all medical colleges. Whether this is agreeable to a plethora of politicians who run the private medical colleges is another matter.

What can the state government do?
· Increase funding to state government hospitals. Put stricter working hours with better pay
· Bring out well thought out schemes for the poor. Start by negotiating with corporate hospitals for 20% free beds in exchange for Subsidised land, etc.
· Discuss with the IMA what can be done to improve healthcare. Ask them to bring out specific universal protocols to improve uniformity in treatment
· Improve upon the existing redressal mechanisms like consumer courts etc.

So what does the state government ministry do instead?
· Neglect the state health sector.
· Introduce various schemes, which are good, but refuse to reimburse the payment to hospitals after treatment.
· Introduce the KPME act to cover their short fallings. The act that threatens the doctors with imprisonment by having them judged by a Kangaroo court.

In my Opinion there is only one word for the KPME act – DRACONIAN

What are the implications?
1) Lack of adequate medical care forget advanced care
2) Migration of specialists and superspecialists. ‘If you pay peanuts you get monkeys’
3) The brightest young minds will not join medicine and you lose an entire generation. After all who wants to munch peanuts and have a Damocles sword hanging?

So all of you who all looking for short term gains, the ones who do not flinch in paying Rs 200 for a bag of popcorn at PVR, you having nothing to lose but your health.