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BJP MP wants regulator for private hospitals over alleged malpractices, overcharging
Meenakshi Lekhi said there have been allegations against private hospitals about malpractices and overcharging, and the time has come to make these hospital accountable.
Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP Lok Sabha member from New Delhi, has pitched for setting up a body to regulate the functioning of private hospitals in India.
There have been allegations against these private hospitals about malpractices and overcharging for procedures and services, the BJP leader said in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
“The doctors in the government hospitals are overworked and underpaid. The doctors in private hospitals do their job like business. We need to address it,” she said, raising the issue during Zero Hour.
The Fortis Hospital in Gurugram was recently in controversy for allegedly charging Rs 18 lakh from a family for dengue treatment. Medanta, another hospital in Gurugram, too was accused last month for overcharging for treatment of a seven-year-old boy.
Lekhi said the private healthcare sector was virtually unregulated and the time has come to make it accountable and do business under a specific framework.
Citing examples of alleged malpractices, she said that though the government has reduced price of stents, the hospitals have increased the rates for the procedure to insert them so as to compensate for their losses.
A stent is a device placed in an artery through surgery after removal of blockages in it to ensure proper blood flow.
The telecom sector has TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), and the medical sector also needs a regulator, she said.
Currently, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) examines drug pricing in India.
