Form Commission for Grievances against Private Hospitals: High Court

The High Court of Bombay said the State has the power to cancel the registrations of private hospitals & nursing homes found guilty of overcharging Coronavirus patients, but shutting them would not be a viable option. It has said compensation to such patients could be a remedy. The HC also suggested the state could form a redressal mechanism in the form of a commission on the lines of a similar set up in West Bengal that has been effective in addressing grievances of such overcharging. It observed that mere entrustment of duty to administrative officers may not be enough & the Maharashtra government can consider similar solutions. The court said this while disposing of a petition seeking directions for capping rates of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits in private hospitals & nursing homes.

The Court was told the State Govt has issued notifications warning hospitals against overcharging. But in the absence of a redressal mechanism, the assurances & notifications have been ineffective.

Abhijit Mangade, the petitioner, submitted bills of a private hospital which charged Rs 1.37 lakhs for PPE kits from a patient under treatment for 20 days. Mangade told a division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta & justice Girish Kulkarni that the patient was given a regulated bed. He added though there was a cap on the rate of PPE kits, the hospital charged the man for 11 PPE kits per day, thus making the entire purpose of the rate chart useless.

A notification issued by the Govt said private hospitals could charge only Rs 600 for a PPE kit.

Managade told the court that a hospital run by a charitable trust had also charged a Covid-19 patient Rs 46,000 for one-day hospitalisation. Mangade added flying squads constituted to ensure that private hospitals & nursing homes did not exploit patients had also been ineffective as overcharging continued.

Mangade submitted the court should direct the state to constitute a grievance redressal mechanism, which is effective & complies with the provisions stipulated in the Govt notifications.

Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni submitted the notifications had empowered municipal & district officials to address the grievances of patients. 

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