The government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is yet to initiate any proceedings against the hospitals in the capital for not following the government's directives to provide free treatment to the poor. The hospitals which have been allotted land at concessional rates on the condition that they give free treatment to a percentage of poor patients are known to have ignored this "obligation" for years together.

In a recent directive, the Delhi High Court had asked the central and state governments to set up a monitoring panel to look into the matter and submit an Action Taken Report by March 2003.

Even after this, the government has not gone any further other than stating that they are in the process of implementing the recommendations of an expert committee report submitted in connection with this last year. The government informed that the "recommendations of Justice A S Qureshi Committee, set up to review the status of charitable hospitals that were allotted land on concessional rates in Delhi", has been accepted in principle and modalities of giving effect to the recommendations of the committee are being worked out. Interestingly, it has taken more than a year for the government to think of any actions based on the recommendations submitted in May last year.

The committee has emphasized the need for identifying the free in-patient department patients through a proforma declaration and undertaking. Every hospital has been asked to set up a poor patients' advisory committee to screen and investigate the correctness of statement made in the proforma. Proposal for a monitoring cell attached to the Department of Health Services is also there. The monitoring cell will include as its members some eminent persons who have the experience of running charitable hospitals where free service to the poor is rendered efficiently. The cell will be empowered to monitor, scrutinize the monthly reports of the free services and to make periodic surprise visits to hospitals.

Every hospital is to send a monthly statement showing the total number of patients and free patients. A proper reference system, where specialty and super-specialty hospitals will entertain the cases of poor patients only on a reference from the treating hospitals will be followed.

The committee felt that "in consideration of persistent violation of expressed and implied terms by the institutions, the allotment of land should be cancelled and should be realloted by a new lease deed on new and uniform terms and conditions for 30 years, on commercial rates of ground rent, to a new management in which the government should have at least three nominees."