New Delhi, April 1
A member of parliament from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday urged the government to expand free healthcare access across the country, criticising the growing commercialisation of medical services and the practices of private hospitals and insurance companies.
Sant Balbir Singh, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, raised the issue during Zero Hour, saying residents of the Union Territory of Chandigarh were struggling to access affordable healthcare.
“The people of Chandigarh are in a state of great distress,” Singh said. “It is the responsibility of the elected government to provide health facilities.”
Singh said that while Indian culture has long regarded health and healing as a sacred duty, the sector has increasingly become driven by profit. He pointed to the high cost of private hospitals and medical facilities, which he said placed treatment beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.
The MP also took aim at insurance companies, arguing their policy terms were written in a language too complex for the average customer to understand. “The conditions of insurance companies are written in very fine print… it should be written in simple language so that the customer can understand it completely,” he said.
Singh alleged that the influence of insurers has led hospitals to view patients as customers rather than people in need of care, contributing to what he described as widespread exploitation of government funds.
Citing Punjab’s existing health scheme, which provides the state residents free treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh, Singh called on the Central government to replicate the model in other states.
“We feel proud that Punjab has become the first province where treatment of Rs 10 lakh is absolutely free,” he said. “In the same pattern, free treatment should be provided in other provinces as well.”
