New Delhi: Actor turned MP Innocent, who has been suffering from cancer, Monday alleged "connivance" between government hospitals and private medical facilities and profiteering by private hospitals at the cost of patients.
Patients are often denied medicines, blood tests and other checks at government hospitals on the ground that the machines are not working and then they are often directed to private hospitals, Innocent Vareed Thekkethala, the Left- supported independent MP from Kerala, said in Lok Sabha.
"It is due to the connivance between hospital authorities and private centres," Innocent, known for his role as a comedian, said.
He was allowed by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to share his experience after being affected by cancer as soon as the Zero Hour began.
Innocent also referred to certain medicines priced at Rs 600 per pill, which, he said, could be bought for Rs 300 and added that it showed the margins enjoyed by the private players.
Many private hospitals set monthly targets of doing a certain number of heart operations if they have to "run on profit", he claimed, adding that patients are prescribed heart stents at exorbitant costs even when these are not needed.
"Such practices must stop," he said and alleged that medicines banned abroad were being sold in India.
Government should look into such issues concerning the common man and "not what is cooking in people's kitchen", he said in an apparent reference to the beef controversy.