Protests, including a dharna, have been going on in front of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital for the past few days. The reason for the strike was the decision of the hospital development committee to charge Rs 10 as OP ticket fee from patients coming for treatment. The first decision of the development committee was to charge Rs 20. As the protestors immediately intervened, it was decided to reduce it to Rs 10. As the agitation intensifies, there are talks about plans to reduce it to Rs 5. The development committees have left the issue to the government as it is for the health department to take a final decision on the decision to impose the fee. The hospital superintendent also informed that it has not yet been decided to charge a fee for op tickets.

There is no point in asking why highlighting a very trivial issue as a serious dilemma and holding a protest in the medical college. If there are no significant issues to be discussed by the opposition, then any trivial matter will become a big issue. This OP ticket problem is one of the same. Those who go to the shops to buy goods know how much ten rupees are worth today. Even beggars will hesitate at first if 10 rupees is offered. This is because the value of the rupee has fallen so much. So what is the injustice in saying that a person who comes to the medical college hospital for his treatment should pay Rs 10 to buy an OP ticket? Why insist on getting any government service free of cost? There will be no complaints when they buy an OP ticket by paying Rs 400 to Rs 700 to see a doctor at a private hospital. There is already a fee for OP tickets in district hospitals and taluk hospitals owned by the government. No one takes home the OP ticket fees charged in hospitals. That money is being used for hospital development purposes. Everyone knows how flawed even the facilities in medical college hospitals are compared to those of large private hospitals. It is also a fact that there are no people in Kerala today who are unable to pay Rs 10 for an OP ticket.

Inaugurating the congress protest rally in front of the office of the medical college hospital superintendent yesterday, UDF convenor MM Hassan said that there is a move to loot poor patients. Where's the robbery and robbery in this?

User fee is an accepted practice all over the world today. People pay various kinds of fees for government services also. The money required for the development of national highways across the country is generated by collecting tolls. If people want to experience the benefits of development, they also need to move accordingly. When OP ticket fees are not enough to meet even a small part of the development needs of the medical college, everyone should be prepared to refrain from unnecessary protests. There are many other issues to lead protests against the government!