CIC Directs Government to Bring Pvt Hospitals Under RTI
Mahendra Kumar Gupta
CIC Directs Government to Bring Pvt Hospitals Under RTI
By Express News Service
Published: 11th April 2015 06:00 AM
Last Updated: 11th April 2015 09:08 AM
NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Centre and state governments to enforce the Right to Information (RTI) Act to ensure that private hospitals provide medical records of the patients on a daily basis.
In a petition filed by Prabhat Kumar, Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu has asked Fortis hospital to provide all records to the applicant, whose father Kailash Prasad Singh had passed away in 2012.
On the refusal of the hospital to provide the records the Information Commissioner said, “This is an undesirable example of defiance by private hospitals and of their indifference towards lives, health and rights of the patients, from whom they charge huge amounts of money.” He also made it clear that the right to medical records was the same in private as well as public hospitals.
In fact, this is the second order by the CIC on providing patients their medical records since it is the right of the patients.
According to the CIC’s July 23 order, “a patient has a right to his/her medical record, which is rooted in Article 19 and 21 of the Constitution and the hospital authorities have a duty to provide the same under RTI Act, Consumer Protection Act, Medical Council Act and World Medical Ethics. The Commission said that the applicant’s plea would be looked into under the RTI Act and also under the consideration that the patient had the right to obtain his medical record based on world medical ethics and also as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, 1982. It is the duty of the doctor or hospital to develop a mechanism whereby a copy of the patient’s medical record -- from his admission to his discharge -- be provided to him or his legal representatives even without him asking as matter of routine procedure at the time of discharge as directed by Bombay High Court in the referred case,” the order said.
“Forcing private hospitals to provide day to day medical records will help in keeping check on some hospitals from resorting to extortionist, inhuman and ruthless business of prescribing unnecessary diagnostic tests, unnecessary surgical operations, caesarean section, unwarranted angioplasties, inserting stents, without need, or of substandard nature, or putting low-quality stent while charging the price of high-quality stent, and several such malpractices amounting to medical terrorism,“ the order said.
Comments:
Good and desirable decision. This will prove a big relief to the publice and will rein in the "loot" by some private hospitals and nursing homes.
We need more such information commissioner in the headless CIC. No Chief for the last 8-10 months. It appears that the efforts are underway to blunt the working of the Commission. THe LHigh Court has rightly asked to appoint the Chief within three months and update the court on this from time to time.