Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and (right) human resource development department minister PK Shahi outside the Assembly on Tuesday. Pictures by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, July 19: The much-awaited Bihar Medical Service Institution and Personal Protection Bill, 2011 was passed in the Assembly amid protest from the Opposition claiming that it was anti-patient and heavily tilted in favour of the doctors.

“The act speaks about taking action against patients and their relatives but is silent on ill-treatment meted out to them and on negligence on the part of the doctors and para-medical staff,” said the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar defended the state government’s decision to pass the bill, stressing that the interest of the patients had been taken care of. “There are specific provisions like specifying the reasons for referring a patient to another medical institution,” he said, adding that the bill was demanded by the doctors of Bihar and that Andhra Pradesh had passed a similar bill.

Nitish said the blame for a tiff between doctors and patients and their relatives goes both ways. “In many cases the relatives of the patients indulge in high-handedness and often assault doctors and para-medical staff. On the other hand, there have been some reports of ill-treatment meted out to patients and their wards by doctors,” he said.

The chief minister said provisions of IPC were still relevant for either the doctors or patients and their wards if they opted to use it. He declared that the bill could be amended in future if required.

The medical fraternity of Bihar had been demanding introduction of the doctors’ protection law in the wake of series of alleged attacks on them. Patna Medical College and Hospital has witnessed several strikes by junior doctors because of tiff between the medical staff and the relatives of patients.

The bill seeks action against persons indulging in violence against doctors in private clinics, nursing homes and government hospitals. It also has provisions to demand damages from the accused if they caused damage to the property of the medical establishment.

The Bihar Clinical Establishment (Control and Regulation) (Repeal) Bill, 2011 was also passed, making the earlier act on this account void. The Central Act would be effective from the day the governor gave his approval to the bill.

The chief minister said the act passed in 2006 had some flaws and it was felt that the Central Act would be more effective.

The state government also got the Bihar Employees’ Selection Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2011 cleared. It seeks to increase the number of members in the commission. The government left the number of the increased members unspecified and declared it would be increased according to the requirement.

The government also got the Bihar Contingency Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2011 passed, increasing the contingency funds of the state from Rs 350 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.

The land revenue minister, Ramai Ram, moved the Bihar Underground Pipeline Bill, 2011 giving the government the right to lay underground pipes for water, electricity and other utilities. Ram said the ownership of the land would remain with the landowners. The government would actually pay compensation to the owners of the land under which pipelines would be laid.