User charges to stay: JIPMER director

JIPMER is unlikely to revoke its decision to implement the user charges from patients for conducting tests and investigations announced last month. On Wednesday, Dr T S Ravikumar, director of JIPMER, ruled out the possibility during a press briefing called to announce the conduct of a national workshop, beginning Thursday. JIPMER is not going to revoke the decision on user charges, he said answering queries

“JIPMER is providing more free treatment than any other institution in the country. It will continue to provide free treatment to the under-served,” he added.

Dr Ravikumar justified the decision saying that the institution had procured sophisticated equipment and the user fee would help maintain these machines.

He said, “If we are able to collect the charges, then we can provide more free care to more under-served people of society.” Ravikumar said, “it was because of their inefficiency that they did not collect the user charges in the past.” Asked how the figure of Rs 2,499 was arrived at for levying the charges, he said, it was the norm fixed by the Central government to decide on the below poverty line (BPL) sections of society. When asked about the political parties’ plans for meeting PM and the union health minister on the issue, he said, I have no comment.

Asked about the bandh plan of the parties, he said they can hold it outside the one km perimeter of the JIPMER campus as per high court order. Ravikumar revealed that JIPMER would set up a public health school as part of their efforts to expand the public health programme. Hoping to make it an “institution without walls,” he said JIPMER would enter into collaborations with various technical institutes for expanding public health research and clinical care.