AAP shielding medical lobby, claims BJP

NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP on Tuesday blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its alleged failure to rein in private hospitals, attributing the recent incident of a baby being mistakenly declared dead as a result of the "failure" to implement the Centre-enacted Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010.

In a letter written to the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, The Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta said that it is essential in the present health scenario of Delhi that the 64-year-old outdated and toothless the Delhi Nursing Home Registration Act, 1953, which presently govern the clinical establishments in the city be replaced by the more effective new Act.

He urged him to stop blaming BJP and do some honest introspection. He asked him if it is not a fact that his Health Minister promised some leaders of Health Establishments in April 2015 that the Clinical Establishment Act will not be implemented without taking care.

He also added that the legislation was needed due to wide variation in health care delivery across providers, resulting not only in compromised patient safety but also concerns about transparency and accountability in healthcare costs.

The Act permits health authorities to conduct inspections and penalise or cancel licenses of hospitals that are found to be fleecing patients, either by prescribing needless tests and procedures, or overcharging.

"But the government is playing soft with the medical community without taking public interest in consideration. The results of such attitude are before us in the form of exploitation, overcharging and negligence," he alleged.

The LoP said that Health Minister Satyendar Jain had assured the medical community in April 2015 that a "doctor-friendly" Bill would be introduced in the Assembly in lieu of the present clinical establishment Act.

Gupta accused the Health Minister of "unfairly protecting the interests of the strong medical lobby" even as it "sacrificed the rights and interest of patients" with regard to good, efficient, accountable and cost-effective medical care.

"Health minister had assured the doctors that his ministry would hurry up to implement the Act as the minister himself felt it would embarrass the medical community and healthcare establishments in a big way," Gupta said.