New Delhi: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said in the Rajya Sabha that the patients will not be affected after district government hospitals are handed over to private medical colleges through public-private partnership mode. He said that the government shall not compromise the interest of patients while privatising.
“We will offer district hospitals to the private sector without compromising the interest of patients,” he said.
During the Question Hour, he said that such experiments have successfully been implemented in the last 25 years and even government’s Niti Aayog has taken note of this and come out with draft guidelines.
The minister added that the step is not being taken to promote private sector, instead it is permitted under Sector 2 (5) of the Medical Council of India Act 1999.
He said, ” A private sector can have medical colleges but cannot have hospitals with patients. The government has many district hospitals with patients. The private sector has money to run the hospitals.”