GLORIFYING THE KPMEA ACT

According to that Act as well, all private clinical establishments must follow 24 conditions, which include

• Not resorting to any unethical or unfair trade practices, including unfair pricing for different services
• Treating accident, acid attack and rape victims even if they cannot pay for treatment immediately. The hospital would have the right to recover the cost of treatment “in due course”.
• Releasing the body of a patient even if the bill for treatment has not been paid.
• Maintaining grievance cells for patients and their kin to accept complaints about treatment, billing and staff behaviour.
• Setting up a help desk each to ensure proper communication with patients.
• Implementing the e-prescription system, maintaining medical records electronically and providing a copy each of all medical records and treatment details at the time of a patient’s discharge.
• Following “fixed rates and charges, including the package rates for investigation, bed charges, operating theatre procedures, intensive care, ventilation, implants, consultation and similar tests and procedures.” Any additional treatment or procedure shall not attract additional charges “over and above the fixed rates and charges, including the package rates”.
• Providing proper estimates of cost of treatment “not covered in fixed rates and charges, including the package rates”. The final bill cannot exceed the estimate by more than a percentage fixed by the government.
• “Endeavouring” to set up fair-price medicine shops and diagnostic centres, if it has more than 100 beds.
• Providing “completely free treatment” to 20 per cent of the patients in the outpatient departments and 10 per cent of admitted patients if the hospital has taken land or other help from the government.

It also has stringent penalties upto Rs 10 lakh, including compensation for victims of medical negligence. Clearly, therefore,  the need for strict regulation and monitoring of the private medical sector has been felt in other states as well.

The intense and vitriolic opposition to the Karnataka Bill by the private hospital lobbies is unjustified especially in the light of large-scale violations of patient rights and complete lack of their accountability. On June 20th, the Assembly debated the issue for nearly five hours and decided to refer the Bill to the Joint Select Committee with a timeframe to revert within one month.