But that's on paper and in principle. In practice, a woman was turned away earlier this week by Cama Hospital, which refused to do a test on her because she could not afford it.

Nineteen-year-old Tara (name changed) is a native of Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, and among six children of a poor farmer. When Tara complained of not menstruating even at 19, she came to Mumbai for treatment as her brother lives at Thane and works as a taxi driver. She was then referred to Cama Hospital in mid-February.

An examination conducted on Tara in the Out Patient Department revealed that she didn't have a uterus since birth, which had caused her condition, said hospital sources. Tara was advised to undergo ultrasonography, blood and liver tests, most of which were done at JJ Hospital, to whichCama Hospital is affiliated.

Since some hormonal tests were not available at JJ, these were conducted at a private laboratory at a cost of Rs 800, a fee the brother could barely afford. Doctors then asked Tara to undergo another test to rule out the possibility of any related kidney condition.

This test is available at Cama Hospital, but it requires an intravenous pylography dye to study the kidneys, sources said. The brother requested the hospital that as they could not afford to pay for this dye, the test be done free of charge. This was sanctioned by the deputy superintendent of the hospital, Dr Rohidas Waghmare, sources said. But when the case was referred to Superintendent Dr K G Tripathi for a final sanction earlier this week, it was rejected on the ground that the patient should pay for the test.

The patient's brother, Krishakant Dubey, said they simply could not afford to pay for the test. Tara has still not been told of her condition as she might get emotionally upset, he told ExpressNewsline.

Dr Waghmare confirmed that he had sanctioned the free test as Tara was clearly from a very poor family, and that the ampules were readily available in the hospital. He added that as such free tests are routinely done on poor patients, they could have been done on Tara as well. But he could not explain why the sanction had been turned down by the hospital superintendent.

Dr Tripathi, however, said Tara had been refused a free IVP test as it was not essential for her and becaus it was requested by resident doctors only for academic interest. Moreover, the sonography already indicated that the patient's kidneys were normal, she said. Besides, she added, the hospital had spent huge sums last year and needed to keep a check on expenditure, she added.