Private hospitals observe bandh against Central regulation law

Private hospitals across Andhra Pradesh were closed till Thursday afternoon in response to the call given by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in protest against the passage of the A.P. Allopathic Private Medical Care Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Repeal Bill in the Legislative Assembly.

This Bill seeks to adopt the Central Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, which the IMA opposed tooth and nail mainly on the ground that small hospitals providing affordable and quality medical services to a majority of the population will be crippled.

The bandh was for the entire day but it was called off midway after Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu assured a delegation of the IMA that he would look into their demands sympathetically. IMA State President R. Jaya Sekhar told The Hindu that the Central Act was detrimental to qualified doctors and small hospitals, who would find it hard to comply with the minimum standards and treatment protocols sought to be imposed on them. He asserted that since A.P. has its own Medical Establishments Act, there was no need to adopt the Central legislation.

“The Bill did not figure on the Assembly agenda and we came to know about it very late but the response to bandh call was tremendous. However, since the CM promised to consider our demands positively, we relented hoping that the promises will be kept,” Dr. Sekhar observed.