Cuttack, May 19: A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in Orissa High Court has sought intervention for free treatment of the poor at private hospitals built on subsidised government land in Bhubaneswar.

Filed by Cuttack-based Odia Yuva Manch president Rohan Kumar Mohanty, the PIL said: “None of the private hospitals that have been provided subsidised government land are providing free treatment to patients who are indigent and live below the poverty line and also in distress.”

“Bhubaneswar houses 39 private hospitals, all of which were granted land by the Odisha government at low rates or free of cost with the hope that they would provide free treatment to poor people of the state,” the petition claimed.

Mohanty has sought the court’s direction to the state government to issue a notification making it mandatory for private hospitals, built on subsidised government land, to treat poor patients for free.

When the petition came up for hearing on May 15, the state government counsel sought time for submitting the land lease agreements related to the land granted to the private hospitals.

The division bench of Chief Justice A.K. Goel and Justice A.K. Rath adjourned the matter to after the summer vacation for hearing along with the land lease agreements.

The bench however, expressed annoyance over non-compliance of its order calling for the land lease agreements while issuing notice to the state government and the secretary of the department of health and family welfare.

According to the petition, the Supreme Court had directed all the private hospitals to reserve 25 per cent of their outpatient department capacity and 10 per cent of beds at the indoor section for free treatment of the poor.

Accordingly, the governments of various states had issued notifications in that regard.

“But the government of Odisha has so far not issued any notification directing private hospitals to provide free treatment to the poor people,” the petition alleged.

The Supreme Court had issued the order in 2011 on a batch of petitions filed by 10 private hospitals challenging a Delhi High Court order to provide free treatment to the poor patients according to the land lease agreements between the government and them.

In July 2012, the health department had asked the private hospitals to provide free treatment to the poor following the Supreme Court order.

The then health minister, Prasanna Acharya, had also announced that the order would be applicable to all private hospitals, irrespective of whether they had got government land on concession rates or not and said detailed guidelines would be issued shortly.

However, the guidelines are yet to be notified.