HYDERABAD: Walking into a hospital for medical procedures, starting from general consultation, often burns a hole in our pockets. A government intervention into the manner in which hospital treatment is billed in monetary terms has been a demand from all quarters. Many are often clueless as to where to lodge a complaint or raise an alarm.
Meanwhile, officials from the State Health department maintain that they might not bring in rules to regulate money charged by private hospitals as the prices vary with infrastructure and other facilities at a hospital. The officials said that the prices are not regulated in any part of India.
The State government has adopted The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act 2010. According to the Clinical Establishments (Central Government) Rules 2012, under the Act, “clinical establishments shall charge the rates for each type of procedures and services with in the range of rates determined and issued by the Central government from time-to-time in consultation with the State Governments”.
Director of Medical Education Dr K Ramesh Reddy said that a committee is constituted to formulate an act for State government by taking the best of all existing rules. Health activists and officials who served in government have been demanding laws which will regulate prices charged by hospitals.
Dr Ankuran Dutta, managing trustee of Dr Anamika Ray Memorial Trust, who has launched a campaign titled ‘Stop Medical Terrorism’ demanding stringent law to regulate medical profession, said that laws will make hospitals accountable towards patients. The regulations will make it clear to all hospitals that they cannot take more charges,” Dr Ankuran Dutta said on the sidelines of an event held here on Thursday. Correlating with how government’s intervention has brought down prices of stents, he said that the same can be achieved about all prices charges by hospital if a law is brought it.
Dr Ankuran has also demanded Right to Health to be made a fundamental right. He said that though Supreme Court stated that Right to Health comes under Article 21 of Indian Constitution, the right is not explicitly written.
It is not only the general public who get shocked after receiving inflated hospital bills. Former Union Health secretary K Sujatha Rao faced similar situation when her sister underwent a treatment at a private hospital in Banjara Hills.