September 3, 2012
Chennai — Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to instruct JIPMER in Puducherry to withdraw the user charges it levies for various medical investigations. She said the move is against the assurance given in parliament.
September 3, 2012
Chennai — Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to instruct JIPMER in Puducherry to withdraw the user charges it levies for various medical investigations. She said the move is against the assurance given in parliament.
In a letter to Singh, she said the charges levied by Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) "will badly affect poor patients not only from Puducherry but also from the neighbouring districts of our state, namely, Cuddalore, Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai, who have been availing of health care services free of cost in this institution".
The text of the letter was released to media here.
Recalling AIADMK's opposition to convert JIPMER into an autonomous institution in parliament in 2008 when a bill was introduced for the purpose, Jayalalithaa said: "Overruling our strident objections, the bill had been passed with an assurance that the existing free services to the public would be continued without any change."
"Introduction of user charges for routine investigations and medical procedure amounts to reneging on the solemn assurance given in parliament," she said.
Courtesy: IANS
