Why implementation of Act regulating hospitals & clinics is hanging fire

Last year, however, the Union Health Ministry wrote to the Delhi government asking it to implement the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, stating that the present law only applies to hospitals and nursing homes in allopathic medicine. It added that clinics, polyclinics, laboratories, imaging centres, and AYUSH clinical establishments were not covered under it and a large number of such establishments remain unregulated.

The Delhi High Court had also ordered the government to adopt the Act in 2022. On April 4, the Delhi Health Minister and the department secretary agreed to implement it as an interim measure.

Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the government has already finalised the Delhi Health Establishments (Regis-tration and Regulation) Bill, which has to be sent to the Centre for approval.

“Our Health Bill, ready since 2023, has the provision of capping prices of hospital treatment; the Centre’s does not. We want reasonable capping of medicines prices, procedures, surgeries and other expenses of private hospitals . We will implement the Centre’s Act, but only in the interim,” he said. He said he had received the file on Friday; on Monday, the file has been sent from his office.

As per the April HC order, Bharadwaj and the health secretary “jointly agreed” to forward the Bill to the Centre for approval. Sources, however, said movement has been slow.

“Despite receiving the letter from the Centre almost a year ago, many health establishments are running without any regulations. The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 deals with this problem but the government is yet to adopt it. It was only when the matter went to court that the AAP government finally said it will adopt it in the interim. The file has been moving from one officer to another for the past month,” said an official who didn’t want to be named.