Pathologies of Gulbarga's private medical units

Most diseases have specific symptoms related to the particular pathology at hand.
Gulbarga’s private healthcare system is like a stubborn patient who refuses to pay heed to the doctor’s advice and, in the process, has contributed to the larger malaise affecting the district’s state of health.

Hundreds of medical facilities, which came up across the district in gross violation of established norms, actually mask the threat they cause to the healthcare system and have caused massive anxiety to the district administration.

While the authorities have slapped notices on these unauthorised health units directing them to register with the District Health and Family Welfare department, the situation has not improved: the recalcitrant medical facilities have only grown bolder, thriving without complying with provisions of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007.

The situation has come to such a pass that even after four ultimatums -- the first was issued on January 8 and subsequently reissued thrice on June 15, July 20 and October 27 -- the physicians’ community has refused to abide by the diktat, leaving the district authorities with no choice but to order the closure of the errant private medical facilities. The result is that there is now large-scale chaos, with consumers and patients facing a crisis.

Registration certificates

According to District Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr Nalini Namoshi, who is also the nodal officer for registration, of the 680 health and medical establishments in the district, only 39 possess registration certificates.

The rest have failed to furnish required documents related to ownership, proprietorship, partnership, society registration and whether they are private or public limited companies.

Under the guidelines issued by the health department, the private medical entities were also required to submit details on manpower, registration certificates, copies of the licences under which they operate, Pollution Control Board clearances and certificates on individual bio-medical waste treatment plants.

The medical units which have been found violating the guidelines include allopathy hospitals and clinics, AYUSH hospitals and nursing homes, nature cure, diagnostic and therapy centres.

One reason for failure to register with the District Health and Family Welfare department is that they have not obtained trade licences from the Gulbarga Mahanagara Palike (GMP) -- a pointer to the stark reality that these medical facilities have been operating illegally since their inception.

District administration sources suspect that some Palike officials colluded with the medical fraternity, an association which has benefited the two sections but caused revenue loss to the GMP.

Of the 680 private healthcare units, 489 operate out of Gulbarga city. The GMP’s special drive to issue trade licences turned a cropper when several private medical units failed to furnish documents required for obtaining licences.

A GMP official said that “for decades, these establishments have been running illegally. The majority of them do not have a single valid document.” The official pointed out that even if licences are issued, the private medical units will have to cough up property tax, which is due for the past several years.

Health Department sources said registration certificates could be issued without insisting on trade licences, which came under the purview of the local bodies.

However, Deputy Commissioner R Vishal, who is also the chairman of the committee to issue registration certificates under the KPME Act, clarified that registration certificates cannot be issued without trade licences. He cautioned that the medical establishments may be closed down permanently if they did not comply with the law.