delhi

Updated: Jan 22, 2019 14:38 IST

The Delhi government is looking to cap the profits of private hospitals in the city, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain has said.

Officials and legal experts, however,said the draft notification of the government has no legal standing.

The Delhi government , in May last year, had announced that it would put a limit on how much profit a hospital can make on medicines, disposables, and implants after allegations of overcharging had surfaced in the case of the death of a dengue patient.

“If you have to run a hospital in Delhi, you will have to follow the advisory that the government issues. Let the critics say there is no legal standing. If a hospital does not follow it, we can cancel their licences for which we do have the power,” Jain said.

“The same critics had said we will never be able to cap prices of tests and beds for fever patients during the dengue outbreak. We did it, didn’t we?” he said.

Every monsoon, the government allows extra beds in hospitals to treat patients at a subsidised rate, fearing dengue, chikungunya outbreaks.

“It is possible for the government to do so during an emergency situation to create more resources for patients, but they cannot cap profits as a routine. Education is the only field where commercialisation is not allowed,” said Ashok Agarwal, a social jurist, who has been working with the government to ensure free beds in private hospitals.

“On what grounds can they terminate the licences? Almost all hospitals follow the basic norms laid down under the Nursing Homes Act and routine inspections ensure that they are followed,” Agarwal said.

Among other recommendations, the draft advisory put up in the public domain maintains if a patient dies in the emergency room within six hours of being admitted, the hospital shall waive 50% of the cost incurred in his/ her treatment. Thereafter, any death within 24 hours will result in a waiver of 20% of the bill.

This recommendation of a nine-member panel was, however, later removed. “This was removed from the revised recommendation. Experts argued that hospitals were likely to pass the charges to other patients if they had to give discounts to a few. But it was unanimously decided that the hospitals should not make huge profits on medicines, consumables and implants. There has to be a transparency in pricing,” said a committee member.

“Now, the government is planning to bring in the Delhi Health Bill to regulate the clinics, laboratories and diagnostic centres. However, even under this law, there is no provision to enforce a price capping,” a senior health department official said.

The government is planning to bring in the Delhi Health Bill to implement the Centre’s Clinical Establishment Act that will regulate all clinics, IVF centres, day care centres, dental, and diagnostic centres in the state. Currently, clinical establishments apart from hospitals and nursing homes do not require registration with the state government.

Another official said, “We can ensure that the hospitals do not charge over and above what they usually do during an epidemic. Beyond that, there is no legal standing.”

The government has refused to introduce it in the form of an advisory as well.

“How can the government say how much to profit from something? There is no precedence to support it. No study shows that a 20% or 35% should be enough to cover costs,” the official said.