PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
In a major decision the State Information Commission has said that all the private hospitals registered under the Clinical Establishment Act and empanelled in the Ayushman Card and Golden Card scheme of the State government will have to provide necessary information under the Right to Information (RTI) act. The State Information Commissioner (SIC) Yogesh Bhatt passed the order while hearing a case involving Velmed hospital Dehradun. The hospital had refused to provide information regarding treatment of a patient under the RTI. Bhatt has issued notice to the Public Information Officer of the State Health Authority (SHA) for the refusal of the Velmed hospital for providing information.
In the hearing it was mentioned that the operation of the private hospitals in the State is done under the provisions of The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act. Under the act it is mandatory for all the private hospitals to get them registered. The representative of the chief medical officer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr Vandana Semwal told the commission that under the act the private hospitals should keep their records safe.
The PIO of the SHA told the commission that the hospitals empaneled under the Ayushman and Golden card schemes should compulsorily register with the SHA and the payment of the patients admitted under the above mentioned schemes is made by the SHA to the hospital concerned.
In his order, the SIC Bhatt clearly said that the private hospitals cannot deny information regarding the patients. He said that all the hospitals should provide all details of the treatment to the patients in a transparent manner. Bhatt said that the objective of the Clinical Establishment Act is to ensure that treatment of the patients is done in a responsible and transparent manner by the hospitals. He said that CMO concerned should ensure that the private hospitals provide information under RTI act to the patients using their discretion under the section 5 (4) of The Clinical Establishment Act. Bhatt added the SHA should inform the private hospitals empanelled under the Ayushman and Golden card schemes that they should provide information sought under the RRI to the patients.
