Rajasthan govt ready to listen to doctors, says CM Gehlot, appeals to them to end strike

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Tuesday that the government is willing to listen to doctors protesting the Right to Health Bill.

“I would again like to appeal that government is ready to listen to doctors. There shouldn’t be any misunderstanding and the strike must be called off,” said the CM. “Right to Health bill is in the public interest. We have sorted out all the misunderstandings & have included all the suggestions from doctors. We want both public & private sectors to serve the people of state. We respect all the doctors,” further added CM.

Earlier in the day, Cabinet Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas appeared to contradict state health minister Parsadi Lal Meena’s statement, saying that the Rajasthan government will back down if necessary amid the ongoing doctors’ protest.

Private hospitals and doctors in Rajasthan have been boycotting work to protest the Right to Health (RTH) bill, urging the state government not to implement it.

Rajasthan became the first state to pass the Right to Health Bill, which grants every resident of the state the right to free Out Patient Department (OPD) and In Patient Department (IPD) services at all public health facilities. Gehlot, on the other hand, accused the central government of causing religious divisions.

 “There is a limit to doing Hindu-Muslim politics, how long will the country tolerate such politics, Rahul Gandhi raised questions regarding the Adani case, false allegations of defaming the country in foreign nations were levelled against him and when he tried to give clarification in the Parliament, he was not allowed to answer, he was thrown out of the Parliament in a conspiracy.”