Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill

Why in news?

The private health sector in Karnataka is protesting against the state government proposed KPME (Amendment) Bill 2017.

What is the bill about?

• The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act was passed in 2007.
• The legislation aimed at being a legal control over private medical establishments (PMEs) in the state.
• The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2017 intends to bring the PMEs under the purview of the government.
• The proposed amendments are based on the recommendations of former Supreme Court judge Vikramajit Sen.
• Passing the bill would facilitate the rolling out of the State government’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) scheme called ‘Arogya Bhagya’.

What are the proposed amendments?

• Primarily, the Bill makes the registration of PMEs mandatory and lays down guidelines to ensure their quality.
• The main amendments include increasing the fine for running a non-registered private medical establishment.
• Similarly, the fine and term of imprisonment for non-adherence to the rules regarding maintenance of clinical records and payments has been increased.
• The amendments make it mandatory to provide life saving emergency measures without insisting on advance payment as in the current practice.
• And in the event of death, the body of the deceased should be released immediately without insisting on payment of dues.
• Every PME should display prominently the Patient's Charter and Private Medical Establishment's Charter.
• The amendments will pave the way for the government to fix the rates for each class of treatment, and also provide grievance redressal systems.

What are the concerns?

• The amendments have been met with fierce criticism from the private doctors' associations.
• The private health sector finds contentious the provisions like price capping of various procedures, imprisonment of doctors and setting up of a grievance redressal cell.
• There are demands for making the provisions applicable to the government hospitals as well.
• The protests call for enhancing the standards of health care at government hospitals before regulating private medical establishments.

What is the way forward?

• The amendment law for governing private medical establishments is a logical step to provide universal health coverage in the State.
• However, there is a need to ensure parity in services offered by government and private institutions and end the neglect of public facilities especially in rural areas.
• Beyond regulation of prices for some drugs, streamlining the processes for centralised procurement and free distribution of essential medicines to all is essential.
• All health institutions participating in a universal access programme should be governed by common regulations and regulators to eliminate fragmentation of functions.
• The country as a whole should try bringing in such measures to make a transition to universal health access in line with the Sustainable Development Goal.

Source: The Hindu