Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit urged to defer Act regulating private clinics

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Chapter of People’s Health Movement submitted a memorandum to Governor Banwarilal Purohit, seeking to defer the Tamil Nadu Private Clinical Establishments (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2018, which was passed in Assembly.The members of the movement said the bill was drafted without inviting opinions from the public, experts and MLAs before amendments were made.

Health Minister C Vijayabaskar introduced the Act in the Assembly on March 20 and got it passed on March 22. The minister later said that one of the main objectives of the bill was to curb quackery. 
Dr Rex Sargunam, member of the organisation, said, “The bill was passed without inviting opinions.”K Ameerkhan, another member, said, “There is no mention of patients rights in hospitals, cap and transparency in service charges and autonomous grievance redress mechanisms, which are the need of hour in these institutions, especially in private hospitals where gross violations are documented”.

Speaking to mediapersons on Friday, the members also alleged that during the period of December 2017 to February 2018, around 20,000 postcards from across the State were submitted to the special cell of the Chief Minister to place the draft bill for public opinion. However, the government did not respond and enacted the Act.Patients rights, fixation of cost for the services and time-bound transparent grievance redressal mechanisms should be the core principles of such an important Act, the members added.