Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to instruct JIPMER to revisit its decision to introduce new user charges as it would badly affect the poor people in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. In a Demi-Official letter to the Prime Minsiter, copies of which were released to the media here, she said introduction of user charges for routine investigations and medical procedure amounts to reneging on the solemn assurance given in Parliament. “To ensure that the people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are not adversely affected, I request you to instruct JIPMER to revisit the decision to introduce the new user charges and revert to the earlier practice of offering free services to the public as assured in 2008,” she added.
She said JIPMER hospital in Puducherry has introduced user charges for various medical investigations and procedures.
“This will badly affect poor patients not only from Puducherry but also from the neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu like Cuddalore, Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai, who have been availing of health care services free of cost in this institution,” she added.
In this context, she recalled that the AIADMK had vehemently opposed the Bill to convert JIPMER into an autonomous institution in Parliament, even at the introduction stage in 2008.
“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,” she noted. Introduction of user charges for routine investigations and medical procedure amounted to reneging on the assurance given in Parliament, she said and urged the Prime Minister to instruct JIPMER to revisit its decision.
—-UNI