Punjab: Hospitals near highways oppose access fee notice

CHANDIGARH: Highway-side private health facilities are heading into a confrontation with the Punjab government over the “hefty” access charges that the broke state has imposed on them for cash. The public works department has started sending each of them a recovery notice for Rs 1-1.5 lakh due since 2018.
If they fail to clear the dues by a given time, they will lose their access to the state highways. In 2018, when the government had notified the access fee for private properties such as petrol pumps, schools, colleges, hotels, and theatres, there was no mention of the hospitals.
The Punjab chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has termed the payment notice “illegal” and issued a legal notice to the principal secretary for PWD, demanding a withdrawal.
Punjab has 13,000 private health facilities, of which many are on the state or national highways. Since the government has limited hospitals, people rely heavily on the private health facilities. The owners of these private hospitals have approached the legislators and cabinet ministers of their areas. State Indian Medical Association president Dr Paramjit Maan said: “The access charges imposed on the private hospitals are illegal, arbitrary, and vexatious. The private sector is a critical health service provider in the state. Instead of assisting it, the government is putting financial burden on it, which will pass on to the patients.”
The operators of private hospitals also opposed the directive to install effluent treatment plants (ETP). In September 2019, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) had asked both private and government hospitals to install these ETPs by June 30, 2020.
Most of the private hospitals have failed to comply for want of money and space. The Punjab IMA has asked the state government to persuade the board to exempt at least the small and medium hospitals.