THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The decks have been cleared for tabling the Clinical Establishment Bill during the upcoming session of the state Assembly beginning on Monday following the nod from the Assembly Subject Committee. Despite the session having only a few business days with the rest of the days earmarked for discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s Address and discussion on the forthcoming budget, sources said the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) has been asked to ensure the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Bill is given prominence and introduced in the present session itself. Subject Committee members V S Sivakumar and B Sathyan said the committee had given its suggestions and it was for the BAC to decide on tabling it.
Expressing the hope the Bill will indeed be brought in during the coming session, they said the BAC has been asked to accord top priority to it. The Bill had been in the works for nearly a decade and it was finally introduced by the incumbent government during the Assembly session in August. It was then the Bill was referred to the Subject Committee.Sources said no major changes in the Bill’s overall structure had been proposed by the Subject Committee. The Bill proposes a state council with the Health Secretary as chairperson for monitoring the whole system.
The committee will be vested with the powers to classify the clinical establishments into different categories according to minimum standards. With respect to registration, the Bill proposes establishing an authority for each district with the District Collector as the chairperson.A notable provision in the Bill is every clinical establishment should prominently display, in both Malayalam and English, the rates charged for the services provided and the facilities available. It also envisages steps to check the fee for tests and negligence in all the institutions.
The Bill gains significance in the wake of reports majority of the private labs were functioning without any proper accreditation /certification and they are being run by under qualified or unqualified staff.
Once the Bill comes into force, it will help to bring uniformity in the healthcare system by laying down minimum standards for the facilities and services provided by the clinical establishments.