Maharashtra govt to strictly enforce Bombay Nursing Home Act

“Despite the Act being successful spot for years, compliance has been weak, with galore backstage hospitals operating without strict adherence to its provisions,” helium said.

To code these lapses, the authorities is prioritising the enforcement of 2 large rules. Firstly, hospitals volition nary longer beryllium allowed to detain patients implicit pending bills astatine the clip of discharge. Secondly, successful cases wherever a diligent dies, hospitals volition beryllium prohibited from withholding the assemblage implicit unpaid dues. “Hospitals often garbage to discharge patients owed to outstanding payments, violating some diligent and quality rights. The aforesaid applies to deceased patients—we volition instrumentality these rules immediately,” helium said.

The Act besides mandates that each registered private hospitals and nursing homes meet indispensable infrastructure and staffing standards portion maintaining strict hygiene, occurrence safety, and biomedical discarded disposal norms. However, compliance remains inconsistent. “We deficiency information connected the existent implementation of these regulations. Right now, we are compiling this accusation and volition guarantee stricter enforcement, peculiarly successful occurrence information norms,” helium added.

In the past period alone, implicit 3,000 backstage hospitals and nursing homes were recovered violating immoderate provisions of the Act, prompting the authorities to instrumentality corrective measures. Alongside these reforms, each backstage hospitals volition present beryllium required to show the outgo of aesculapian procedures prominently wrong their premises. “Patients person the close to cognize attraction costs successful advance. They should beryllium capable to comparison prices earlier deciding connected infirmary admission,” the curate said.

While the authorities authorities is pushing to fortify the Bombay Nursing Homes Registration Act, galore experts reason Maharashtra should besides follow the Centre’s Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 (CEA), which offers broader regulatory oversight. The CEA establishes azygous standards for aesculapian facilities crossed India, addressing licensing, pricing, and work quality. In fact, a caller Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) study criticised Maharashtra for failing to instrumentality this legislation, which could assistance curb unethical practices successful backstage healthcare.

Despite the broader sum of the CEA, wellness activists accent the value of enforcing the Bombay Nursing Homes Registration Act, peculiarly for smaller nursing homes with lone a fewer beds. These facilities, often criticised for employing unqualified aesculapian unit and overcharging patients, stay mostly unregulated.

Dr Abhay Shukla, co-convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), highlighted that contempt its limitations, the Bombay Nursing Homes Registration Act offers indispensable protections for patients. “The Act mandates that hospitals show indicative rates for treatments, ensuring transparency successful aesculapian billing. It besides requires a toll-free grievance redressal mechanics for patients to study issues. However, these provisions stay mostly unenforced, leaving patients susceptible to overcharging and deficiency of accountability,” helium said.

Under the Act, punishment for non-registration states that immoderate usurpation of Section 3 shall, upon conviction, beryllium punishable with imprisonment of up to six months, a good of up to Rs 10,000, oregon both.