The members also supported the idea of giving incentives to doctors for undergoing a rural stint to serve in villages.
Initiating the discussion on Demand for Grants for the Health Ministry, Rewati Raman Singh (SP) said the poor were unable to get timely and quality treatment due to lack of medical facilities in villages and smaller cities.
He also demanded a government-sponsored health insurance scheme for the poor for treatment of serious diseases.
Singh said an insurance scheme being run by the government in association with ICICI Bank was plagued with irregularities as even good hospitals were being blacklisted for failing to make "payments". He demanded a probe into the irregularities.
Criticising the Government's decision for utilising the service of ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers to sell condoms door to door in rural areas, BJP member Sanjay Jaiswal said "babus" sitting in the national capital did not know anything about the ground reality and such a move would not be acceptable in rural India.
Gorakh Nath Pandey (BJP) said the cost of medicine and treatment is sky-rocketing and the poor found it very difficult to visit hospitals.
