Panel to consult all stakeholders on bill to regulate private hospitals

Health and Family Welfare Minister K R Ramesh Kumar on Thursday said the select committee of the legislature will hold consultation with all the stakeholders before preparing its report on the controversial bill to regulate private hospitals.

Speaking to reporters after participating in the first meeting of the committee at the Vidhana Soudha, the minister said the state government’s intention is not to trouble private medical establishments. Medical doctors need not panic. The bill is intended at protecting the interest of poor patients, he added.

The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 seeks to fix rates for all treatments and penalise hospitals for violations of any of its provisions. When the government sought the approval of the state legislature for the bill in the recently concluded session, members cutting across party lines opposed it, saying that it will lead to harassment of medical doctors. The government finally referred the bill to the select committee of legislature to examine it.

The 17-member joint select committee headed by senior Congress MLA K N Rajanna has been given two months’ time to submit its report to the legislature. Rajanna said the report will be submitted within the stipulated time. Ramesh Kumar said the government will convene a special session of the legislature, if necessary, to discuss the bill.