Telangana govt to check private hospitals overcharging patients

Hyderabad: With the state government implementing the Central Clinical Establishment Act, 2021 to monitor private hospitals and clinics, officials said they would start imposing fee regulation on hospitals that overcharge patients.

The government issued orders to adopt the Central Act on Thursday. A district registering authority (DRA) will be formed as per the Act, whose members include the Collector, additional collector, DMHO, police commissioner or SP and president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

IMA-Telangana president Dr M Sampath Rao said setting up guidelines for the hospital fee was on the IMA’s agenda. The association also wanted to stop registration of quacks — registered medical practitioners —so that the people are not exposed to risks.

Dr Rao said though hospitals were overcharging, they were doing it for certain reasons. “The Consumer Protection Act also applies to doctors, so they are trying to carry out defensive practices which leads to them overcharging patients. We need to discuss these issues,” he said.

According to an official from the health department, the new powers given to officials might not bring about any major changes. “It won’t be easy to make private hospitals charge less. As for quacks, their practice was always illegal, but they have still been operating freely,” the official said.