Chennai: Tamil Nadu chapter of the People’s Health Movement, Makkal Nalavazvu Iyakkam (MNI) submits a memorandum to Governor Banwarilal Purohit seeking intervention to amend the Tamil Nadu private Clinical Establishment (Regulations) Act, 1997.
MNI demands state government to provide adequate resources, including funding and human resources to authorities for effective and transparent implantation, stressing on patients rights, fixation of cost for the services and time-bound transparent grievance redressal mechanisms.
The Tamil Nadu assembly passed the bill to amend the Tamil Nadu private Clinical Establishment (regulation) Act 1997 on 22nd March 2018.
MNI expressed its disapproval of the state advisory committee on the act and demands that prior public consultative process, including inviting opinion from the public, experts and elected members of Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Members of MNI say that around 20,000 postcards from across the state were submitted to the special cell of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to place the draft bill for public opinion during the period December 2017 to February 2018. However, Tamil Nadu government enacted the act without responding to them.
MNI disapproves of the act, as it does not have any mention of patients’ rights in hospitals, cap and transparency in service charges and autonomous grievance redress mechanisms which are the need of the hour in these institutions, especially in the private hospitals where gross violations are documented.
MNI requests the governor to defer the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishment (Regulations) amendment Act, 2018 in its present condition and direct the government to design a vibrant act which will protect the health rights of the people of Tamil Nadu.
