IMA seeks changes in clinical establishment rules in Uttarakhand

Private doctors associated with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) have sought changes in rules of the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act – which requires health care institutions to follow certain standards for medical services — in Uttarakhand

Private doctors associated with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) have sought changes in rules of the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act – which requires health care institutions to follow certain standards for medical services — in Uttarakhand.

The Uttarakhand Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Rules 2015 had come into force in Uttarakhand last year. (HT File/REUTERS)

IMA representatives met Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh here in the state capital on Tuesday to seek modifications in the Uttarakhand Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Rules 2015 that had come into force in Uttarakhand last year.

The act aims to ensure basic minimum standards of services provided by both public and private establishments including clinics, nursing homes, dispensaries and pathology labs. It calls for mandatory registration of the clinical establishments and necessitates deployment of trained staff, transparency in charges levied by them and provision of medical emergency treatment among others.

The rate of registration of establishments in Uttarakhand, however, has been slow owing to resistance from the private doctors, with a little over 400 private clinical establishments getting registered so far.

Stressing that they were not against the implementation of clinical establishment act, the IMA officials said that they just wanted “certain changes” – like fixing of minimum standards to be followed by medical establishments.

Besides setting of minimum standards, doctors associated with the IMA have also sought reduction in ‘high’ registration fee, a single window system for obtaining various clearances required under the act and providing representation of the IMA doctors in the monitoring body, Dr Dipak D. Choudhury, honorary state secretary of the IMA Uttarakhand Chapter, said.

“Moreover, the rules call for imposing penalty for lacking liquid waste management set ups in hospitals and clinics from back date (since the year 2002), which is not justified and should be modified,” he told HT.

Given the already poor government health infrastructure in the hill state, the rules, if implemented in their current format, will spell doom for the common patient as most private practitioners will either be forced to shut down or increase their fee drastically, Dr Choudhury said.

During the meeting, it was decided that further meetings will be held between officials of the health department and the IMA representatives to take a final call on the matter.