Suraksha P By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, will come up with an appropriate patient-centric legislative framework for private and government hospitals in the state in three weeks, according to the Principal Secretary to the Health Department, Shalini Rajneesh.

Presently, the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007, and Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Rules, 2009, regulate the functioning of private hospitals in Karnataka.

But according to critics, there are a lot of deficiencies in the Act. There are no strict rules for implementation of the Act to regulate private medical establishments. Except for allopathy, other systems of medicine do not come under the purview of the Act.

Government hospitals are not regulated under this Act and no state-level regulatory authority /council has been established.

The KPME Act merely requires private medical establishments to register and maintain certain building requirements, and does not have powers to cancel licences.

Under the current rules, there is no provision for data sharing between private and government medical establishments. No definite penalty/punitive clauses have been incorporated for violation of rules. There is a need for development of standard treatment guidelines to impart quality treatment to patients and establish a grievances redressal committee at the hospital level. The new framework will hopefully regulate unethical practices of medical practitioners, health experts say.

The Union government has passed The Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, and Clinical Establishments (Central Government) Rules, 2012. While a few states have adopted this Act, Karnataka is yet to do so.

To correct the deficiencies in the state Act, and study and incorporate aspects of the central Act, a committee of 30 members was constituted in September last year.

The committee is headed by retired Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen and co-chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Health Department. It will give its recommendations to NLSIU to come up with a better legislative framework to regulate profit-raking private hospitals. Fixing the cost of various medical procedures is the primary aim of this committee.

With a bulk of the funds allocated to government medical insurance schemes going to the private sector, the Health Department aims to revamp the Act for greater accountability. The 30-member committee consists of members from Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) and Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI).