MALAPPURAM: With the government set to introduce the long pending Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Bill in the ongoing assembly session, government doctors are crying foul over the enactment of the bill in its present form. The Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) has raised concerns regarding a host of issues including the lack of transparency in the proposed registration process, its negative impact on public sector health care institutions and inadequate representation of practitioners of modern medicine.
“There are uncertainties on how it would be implemented in the public sector. A lion’s share of government health care institutions do not meet public health standards which stipulates the staff pattern and infrastructure. As the standardization of these institutions remains a distant dream, the public sector should be exempted from the purview of the bill. Otherwise it would jeopardize the purpose of the bill,” Dr. Raoof A. K., general secretary of KGMOA said. According to KGMOA, the bill does not take into consideration the circumstances prevailing in the state. “It may be noted that Kerala has a registration system under Kerala panchayat act and Kerala Municipalities act for clinical establishments,” he said.
As per the bill, the registration process will be done by the State and district-level councils which will be constituted accordingly. “There is inadequate representation of government nominees from modern medicine in these two empowered committees. Considering the fact that more than 90 per cent of the health care is delivered by modern medicine, it is only logical that it is proportionately represented in these bodies. Government nominees would ensure transparency in these licensing and registering bodies,” Dr. Raoof said. The KGMOA also demanded that the responsibility for registration must be entrusted to the Directorate of Health Services or secretary to the government.
