Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) The Lok Sabha Monday passed a bill that will make it mandatory for doctors, hospital and other clinical establishments to treat emergency patients and not turn them away on baseless excuses.
The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2010, was moved by Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in the lower house of parliament, which passed the bill, amidst din and vociferous protests by the opposition members over allocation of 2G spectrum.

The legislation makes obligatory for clinical establishments to provide treatment and stabilise anyone who comes in an “emergency medical condition”.

The legislation also sets up a national council which will classify, determine and develop standards of clinical establishments and also develop standards. Besides, with registration of clinical establishments to be made mandatory, the council will also compile and pubic a national register.

As per the text, the bill, once passed, will apply to all clinical establishments belonging to any recognised systems of medicine, as well as single doctor establishments with or without beds.

Each state will set up a multi-member state council of clinical establishments, while the registering authority will be a multi-member body at the district level.

There will be two types of registration - provisional and permanent, which will be provided after standards have been notified.

The legislation also ensures that all transactions under its purview would be transparent and in the public domain.