Visakhapatnam: Few residents approach the consumer forum, district health administration in cases of medical negligence or overcharging. There are only three or four cases related to medical negligence or overcharging out of over 300 cases that the District Consumer Forum receives every year. Most of the other complaints are about insurance, electronic gadgets and other products.
Even as private hospitals are mushrooming in the city, the district health administration is yet to set up any grievance redressal system for patients undergoing treatment there. Voluntary organisations have been demanding a complaints redressal system on the hospital premises.
“Patients with grievances would have to approach the police, AP Medical Council or the consumer forum. Hence, despite experiencing negligence in treatment or being charged extra, many are not lodging complaints. The complaint redressal platform should be accessible to the public,” an activist said.
Senior advocate and president of Forum of Legal Professional Kuppili Muralidhar, who deals with consumer complaints, said only five per cent of cases being received at the consumer forum comprised those related to medical negligence. “Government hospitals do not come under consumer forum but the private ones do. People should not be reluctant to move the forum as more complaints will compel the hospital authorities to think twice before fleecing someone.”
He suggested that the health administration should deploy nodal officials to look into medical complaints. A complaint redressal forum must come on the hospital premises so that patients feel comfortable to lodge complaints.
