Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Central and State governments in a PIL petition seeking direction for establishment of ‘State Council for Clinical Establishment’.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, after hearing contentions of the petitioner, instructed the State government to file a counter affidavit within four weeks. The petition was filed by a voluntary organisation Forum Against Corruption president Vijay Gopal. He stated in the plea that the Centre had brought out Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act-2010. It was notified by the Parliament on February 28, 2012. While many States did not adopt the Act, Telangana State adopted it by passing a resolution in the Assembly on March 25, 2017. The petitioner contended that as per Section 8 of the Act, the government should create a State Council for Clinical Establishments. Not creating the council had created a situation where people availing services of private hospitals found no system to redress their grievances, the petitioner said.
Mr. Vijay Gopal sought a direction to State government to constitute ‘District Registering Authorities’ as per the Act along with setting up State Council for Clinical Establishments. He asked the court to direct the government to release the approved standard list of medical procedures for treating different patients. The petitioner said the government should also release standard template for costs of medical procedures as approved by the National Council for Clinical Establishments as per rule 9 (ii) of the Act. In some cities, hospitals were being operated illegally. There was no mechanism to look into allegations of excessive charges being imposed on patients. There is no system of ensuring adequate facilities by such hospitals set up in districts.
Patients and their families are in a state of confusion as to whom they should approach to secure justice, he said. The petitioner requested the court to direct the government to create Enforcement Cell to ensure every provision of the Act was complied with by the government.
A Grievance Redressal Facility with docket/SR number to monitor complaints should be set up at district and State level, he stated in the petition.