[DoctorNelsonOnten]

The Supreme Court on Thursday opened the doors of nearly 40 private hospitals in the national capital for poor patients from all over the country under subsidised land allocation rules by dismissing their appeals challenging the validity of the rules upheld earlier by the Delhi high court.

The apex court order would make nearly 1,000 beds available to the poor patients with family income of Rs.6,422 per month in the 40 private hospitals in Delhi allotted land by the government on nominal rates, said

senior lawyer Ashok Aggrawal, who had fought the case on behalf of marginalized sections for past several years right form the HC and up to the Supreme Court.

The criteria of poor family was fixed on the basis of daily wages for unskilled workers.
He said under the guide lines framed by Justice Qureshi commission appointed by the Delhi high court to draw a uniform formula on admission and treatment of the poor patients as per the subsidised land allotment clause, 10 per cent beds have to be reserved by the private hospitals for them and they have to open their out patient departments for 25 per cent of such patients.

Some prominent private medical institutions, which had moved the apex court, included Dharamshila, Deepak Memorial Hospital, Bhagwait Hospital, Balaji Action Medical Institute, Jaipur Golden Hospital.