Govt mulls ordinance to rein in private hospitals

Amid reports of private hospitals turning away dengue patients, Delhi government is mulling to bring an ordinance to rein in them. According to sources, the ordinance will give powers to the government to impose <g data-gr-id="23">heavy</g> penalty on private hospitals and to even cancel their registration in case they refuse treatment to an emergency patient. Last week, seven-year-old Avinash Rout had died of dengue after being denied admission by five private hospitals which drove his parents to suicide, triggering widespread outrage. This week, another boy had died of dengue with his parents claiming refusal of admission to their son by hospitals. 

“There have been some incidents in which private hospitals refused to admit <g data-gr-id="22">dengue</g> patients. <g data-gr-id="20">Government</g> wants to bring a law to make them accountable. For this, it will have to call a Assembly session. “But in view of <g data-gr-id="16">sudden</g> spurt in dengue cases, <g data-gr-id="17">government</g> is contemplating to bring an ordinance to immediately tackle errant hospitals,” sources said. They said that with the ordinance which will be valid for six months, government can “rein in” private hospitals and “will have options” to impose a heavy penalty on them and even cancel their registration. Sources said the present law does not give much power to the government to take strict action against private hospitals who refuse to give medical treatment to an emergency patient.