‘Treat the poor for free or else AIIMS will take over Apollo’, strict order of the Supreme Court
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that if Indraprastha Apollo Hospital is not providing free treatment to the poor, then All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be asked to take it over. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh made this strong remark on the allegation of alleged violation of lease agreement by Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.
Apollo Hospital, run by Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited (IMCL), was to provide free medical and other facilities to one-third of its poor inpatients and 40 per cent outpatients without any discrimination as per the agreement. The bench said, “If we find out that poor people are not being treated free of cost, then we will hand over the hospital to AIIMS.” The bench remarked that the hospital built by the Apollo Group was given 15 acres of land in a posh area of Delhi for just one rupee, which it had to run without profit or loss. But it made it a completely commercial enterprise, where poor people can hardly get treatment. The bench also reprimanded the Delhi government
IMCL’s lawyer said that the hospital is running in a joint venture with 26 percent stake of Delhi government and the same amount of its earnings goes to the government. On this, Justice Suryakant said, “If the Delhi government is making profits from the hospital instead of taking care of poor patients, then it is very unfortunate.
Court action against the hospital
The bench, saying that the agreement of the land leased to the hospital for 30 years has ended in 2023, asked the Delhi and Central Government whether its lease agreement should be renewed or not. The Supreme Court was hearing the petition of IMCL, which challenged the order of the Delhi High Court of 22 September 2009, which said that the hospital administration has violated the terms of the agreement to provide free treatment to internal and external patients.
Apart from this, the bench asked the Central and Delhi Government that if the lease agreement of this land was not extended, then what legal action was taken in this regard. The bench also sought from the hospital the record of its current total number of beds and OPD patients in the last five years.
The bench said, “It should also be told in the affidavit that how many poor patients were given free treatment in the last five years Free treatment was provided to the patients. The hospital administration should cooperate with the investigation team and provide all the records sought. The bench also gave the hospital administration the freedom to file an affidavit if required and fixed its hearing after four weeks.
