Corporates told to spend 2 per cent of profits on schools, hospitals

New Delhi

Speaking after dedicating  water cooler facilities donated by the Girdhari Lal Dogra Memorial Trust at AIIMS, Jaitley said, “The social sector in India gets funded more on a community basis. However, in the last five years, we have made a new beginning where we have corporate social responsibility.”

“In fact, this is the first example in India where corporates are now asked to spend two per cent of their profits on charity and service for specified purposes that has now become prevalent in countries around the world. As a result of this, educational institutions, orphanages and hospitals are never short of funds for their activities because they benefit from these endowments,” he said after launching the facility jointly with Union Health Minister JP Nadda at AIIMS.

Jaitley said most hospitals in the world have the largest endowments but it was not the case in India.

The Finance Minister said one of the challenges in an institute of excellence like AIIMS was that a number of people who are underprivileged and unable to afford private healthcare would visit the institute to get the best medical treatment. “By reference, thousands of people always come here for treatment, putting heavy pressure on the institute,” he added. He, however, said  once the full impact of Ayushman Bharat, which provides hospital treatment to the needy, is felt, the pressure on the institute  may  come down as most patients opting for treatment there belong to the less privileged sections in those states where healthcare is relatively weak.

Addressing the audience, Health Minister Nadda lauded Finance Minister  Jaitley for raising the standard of healthcare and supporting the cause of medical science.