Govt asks AIIMS to furnish info on user charges
The health ministry has asked AIIMS to furnish information about review of user charges, while the institute is planning to do away with fees for diagnostic procedures, like blood tests and X-rays, which cost less than `500.
On the directions of the finance ministry, the Union health ministry had, a number of times, asked the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences to review and revise its user charges which have not been changed in the last 20 years.
A letter from the health ministry to the AIIMS said, “Kindly refer to the ministry’s letter dated March 14 and subsequent reminders dated April 11, May 5 and August 4, 2017 regarding review of user charges of autonomous bodies.”
“The requisite information from the institute is still awaited. There has been a considerable delay and the department of expenditure is pressing very hard for the information,” it stated. According to a senior government official, the Prime Minister’s Office wants user charges at all government institutes to be reviewed.
Another official said every year, the AIIMS demands for additional allocation amounting over `300 crore, in nonplan expenditures, including for consumables. “The finance ministry has asked the AIIMS to conduct a review of its user charges which have not been revised since 1996,” the official said.