Amended Maharashtra Nursing Homes Registration Rules, 1949 – A NOTIFICATION ON THE VENTILATOR: Hospital Association

Curiously, the Vidarbha Hospital Association (VHA)  is least disturbed by the recent dismissal of their Petition by the High Court ( Nagpur Bench) challenging the Notification dated 14.01.2021, by which new hospital rules have been introduced in private hospitals of Maharashtra. According to VHA these rules are harsh and impractical and shall only increase corruption, and jack up the heath care costs. The Association asserts that their petition has been dismissed on the basis that the petitioners should have been filed more and better RTI queries to confirm that the draft rules were not published. The VHA asserts that although the petition has not worked out due to a technicality, the Official Gazette is an open public document, the Association knows for sure that the draft rules were never published. And the fact that though the copy of the dismissed petition was served to Government Pleaders for three weeks they did not produce any draft rules at the time of the hearing, in spite of their presence during the hearing. The Association is now taking it to Supreme Court as the failure of the Government to publish and provide draft rules prior to notification was so necessary that it is only a matter of time before the notification collapses under its own weight. The Indian Medical Association has also joined hands with VHA to take this fight to the Supreme Court, where it shall be pleaded by Dr Pradeep Arora, who was appreciated by Hon’ble High Court, Nagpur Bench in the landmark judgment which removed capping of hospital charges in non-covid patients. This landmark judgment was challenged by Maharashtra Government in Supreme Court,  but it was rejected instantly in the first hearing itself.  The Association says that the adjudicated deficiency can be removed and the main issue the merit of which remains unaddressed can be brought to judicial review with prayers of justice, so they stay as much hopeful that they shall be able to get these draconian rules quashed sooner than later. It is apt to say that the said Notification is on a ventilator now with a poor prognosis.