As the COVID-19 cases began to pile up in the State, Punjab Government is mulling the issuance of an ordinance for regulating the functioning of the private healthcare sector in the State. With this, no health facility, either in the private or public sector, will be in a position to refuse emergency medical treatment to patients unable to pay huge amounts.
Hanging fire since past over 10 years, the state Council of Ministers is expected to decide on the Clinical Establishment Bill during its meeting, scheduled for Friday, which is listed in the agenda.
Besides, the Cabinet would also review the arrangements for harvesting and procurement of wheat crop, reviewing arrangements for containment and management of COVID-19 pandemic, other than reviewing the financial position of the state and proposed action.
It has been learnt that the state government has already prepared a draft of the Clinical Establishment Bill the previous year, but the same could not be laid before the Cabinet or the Assembly amidst string opposition by a section of private doctors.
The move came amidst reports that several private healthcare establishments are backing out from providing treatment to the coronavirus infected patients. Notably, about 70 per cent of the state’s population depends on the private healthcare system.
Taking serious note of the development, the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had warned the private hospitals declaring that “deserters won’t be spared”, while terming it a “cowardly act”. The Chief Minister, along with his Cabinet, had suggested that the Health Department should cancel the licences of hospitals refusing to treat COVID-19 patients.
As per the draft of the Act, which was made available at the Health Department’s website, aimed at regulating all health establishments — government or private — to ensure minimum standards. It made it clear that no health facility — government or private — could refute emergency life-saving medical treatment and critical care to anyone over inability to pay.
As per the Act, every health centres will have to provide treatment to victims of calamities, road accidents, acid attack and rape survivors irrespective of their ability to pay for treatment at that point of time. “In case of death, the health facilities will have to ensure that there is no delay in releasing the dead body of patients to their family members due to billing or other issues,” stated the Act while giving the health establishments a right to recover the treatment cost in due course of time.
The Clinical Establishment Bill was enacted by the Centre for regulation of all clinical establishments in the country with a view to prescribe the minimum standards of facilities and services provided by them, besides regulating the private hospitals.
The Centre had then asked all the states to adopt the Centre's Clinical Establishment Act, especially after the cases of alleged medical negligence and overcharging by some private hospitals were reported.