Patna, Feb. 13: The state government’s proposal to implement the Clinical Establishment (registration and regulation) Act on the lines of the Union government and other states has invoked strong reactions from medical practitioners.

Doctors want the bill to be amended before being introduced in the state.

Members of the Bihar chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA), Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA) and senior doctors recently met state health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey and health department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha and demanded that the act be amended before being implemented.

According to sources, the bill aims to improve healthcare delivery system by ensuring uniform standards of facilities and services by various private healthcare centres including clinics, maternity homes, nursing homes, dispensaries and pathological laboratories.

In 2008, the state government passed the bill but the rules and norms of the act are yet to be laid out. A senior health department official said once the act is implemented, a state council would be constituted to determine the standards for medical establishments and maintain and update a register of such institutions. At present, the quality of services being provided by the healthcare delivery system is inconsistent and unregulated, the official added.

Sources in the health department said the need for the act had arisen because of a number of problems, including inadequate and inappropriate treatment of patients in private hospitals, excessive use of advanced technology, wasting of scarce resources, medical malpractice and negligence.

Doctors, however, are demanding that the bill should be friendlier towards them. “We are not against the act. But we want certain changes in the national model of the bill. For instance, the act proposes the same fee structure for all services across different private hospitals. This is impractical as hospitals charge fees according to the quality of the services they provide. The same yardstick cannot be used to measure services by all private clinics. Also, the bill proposes that clinics can be established only in commercial areas. In a state like Bihar where there is no clear demarcation between residential and commercial areas, it is unfair to come up with such a norm,” said BHSA convener Ajay Kumar.

Medical practitioners also have reservations about proposal to increase bureaucratic control over private hospitals.