Though the Uttarakhand High Court in a landmark judgment has directed the State Government to seal all such hospitals and clinics not registered under Clinical Establishment Act, the queer fact is that the health department is ignorant of the number of clinics and hospitals located in the capital of the State. In such a scenario, it would be interesting to know how the administration implements the High Court order.
When contacted by The Pioneer, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr S K Gupta admitted that the department does not have the list of clinical establishments based in Dehradun. “The department is also not aware of the exact number of clinics and hospitals situated in the district, but we believe that there are at least 600 such establishments,’’ he said. The CMO added that 22 hospitals have been given permanent registration while temporary registration has been accorded to 192 clinical establishments. Dr Gupta, further, said that the process of issuing permanent registrations to 28 clinical establishments in the district is currently underway. The CMO accepted that the department should have complete details about the clinical establishments and medical practitioners.
Observers say that the situation warrants immediate attention of the Government. The question is, according to the observers, how the department implements its various health- related campaigns on the ground in the absence of data regarding number of clinics and medical practitioners. Besides, how the department would effectively take on any natural or other calamity when it comes about, the observers ask.
It is clear that the High Court has stepped in as the Government has failed. Soon after the HC order was made public, the office of CMO Dehradun was flooded with people seeking registration forms of Clinical Establishment Act. “We have so far distributed 150 forms; there was never such a rush of the form seekers in past,’’ said an official.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the powerful association of medical practitioners, which has been critical of the act in its current form, gave a guarded response on the HC order. The secretary of the association, Dr D D Chaudhury said, “The court’s order is being studied. We will take the legal opinion and then decide our future course of action.’’
In an attempt to rein in the private clinics and hospitals mushrooming in the State, the State Government brought into force the Clinical Establish Act in 2016. But thanks to strong resentment of the private doctors and also to lack of requisite will on the part of the authorities, the Act is yet to be enforced in the State. Under the provisions of the Act, it is compulsory for all the clinical establishments like doctor’s clinic, private hospitals, diagnostic centres, homeopathic doctors and Ayush doctors to get registered with the State council.
The Act calls for the clinical establishments to keep a record of the patients and to disclose and display the type of services they provide. These establishments are bound to disclose the number and qualification of the staff they employ and display the rate lists under the Act.