BENGALURU: Government hospitals in the State will soon run on the same yardstick as private hospitals with the tweaking of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Act (KPMA). Heath minister Ramesh Kumar on Friday announced that the amendment draft for the new KPMA Act is ready and the bill will be tabled in the Assembly in June.
Justice Vikramajit Sen, who chaired the expert committee to amend the KPMA Act said that government hospitals will be brought under the ambit of the new Act will be renamed Karnataka Medical Establishment Act, dropping the word “private”.
He said that the final committee meeting was held on Friday and stakeholders were consulted about the changes. "Since the patient is getting treated in both public and private hospitals, we think that despite their limitations, public hospitals should also be brought under this regime," said Justice Sen.
However, public health voluntary groups like the Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali maintained that the meetings were exclusionary and this Act would unfairly be pitting public hospitals against private ones.
"There is absolutely no grievance redressal system. We were not given a chance to look at the features. It was stage-managed from the beginning and there has been no price capping on procedures. We wanted criminal action against hospitals if found guilty in patient rights redressal. There's nothing along those lines, as I gather," said Akhila Vasan, convener, Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali.
Without disclosing the highlights of the new Act, Sen said, "We wanted private hospitals that have government land on discounted rates to be obliged to treat patients. We are glad these aspects have been looked into in the new draft." The amended Act would be put before the cabinet for discussion and approval.