Condemning the hike, the PCMS officers association appealed to the state government to immediately withdraw the hike. D. S. Bhullar and Ashok Kumar, president and general secretary of Association, respectively, said instead of providing basic amenities like health and education, the government was commercialising the same. A step that would adversely affect the poor people.

The Association for Democratic Rights, Punjab, appealed to all the trade unions and political parties, including the ruling party, to jointly oppose these anti-people policies of the government for the welfare of the society.

Punjab School of Studies and Social Action alleged that the state government had abandoned the pro-people agenda and adopted the ruthless path of market economy. The Mehantkash Sangharsh Kendra, Patiala, strongly condemning the hike said it had exposed the bloody and inhuman face of capitalism. The Kendra called upon people to come forward and make the government withdraw these measures immediately.

The Punjab State Karamchari Dal and district convener of the Bahujan Samaj Morcha, Paramjit Singh Kainth, also sought immediate withdrawal of the hike. On the other hand, the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association has welcomed the rationalisation of charges. They said the money so generated could be used for improvement in the basic infrastructural facilities at the hospital. The association also appreciated the government's decision to exempt government employees, yellow card holders, emergency cases and 10-20 per cent of the genuinely poor cases from these charges, besides diseases like leprosy, tuberculosis, blindness, etc which are covered under the National health programme.

These charges are still lower than those prevailing in PGI, AIIMS and DMC, they said.