A petition in High Court of Bombay, Nagpur bench is about to be filed
jointly by Vidarbha Hospitals Association and Dr. Pradeep Arora against the
new hospital rules enforced by Government of Maharashtra through a
notification dated 14.01.2021. The Government has increased the registration
fee of hospitals manifold (as much as 50-100 times) with many other
impractical obligations which are going to have escalatory impact on cost of
healthcare. The registration fee has been hiked from earlier Rs 250/- for
whole hospital to a stupendous fee one thousand rupees for each bed. If the
hospitals shall be treated as source of generating revenue, then this
indirect burden shall be borne by the poorest of poor many of whom prefer
private hospitals to public hospitals. The new hospital rules also include a
wide range of structural norms which are very difficult to implement,
retrospectively. In spite of the recent judgment of Bombay High Court
against price control of healthcare system, the new hospital rules tend to
implement the same through back door. It is not acceptable, especially when
the Supreme Court has rejected the application of the Maharashtra Government
to overturn it. The main objection against the new hospital rules is that
these are every demanding and harsh, and yet the hospital owners have not
been involved or consulted in the formative stage of new Rules. It was very
important step as it is vital to balance the practical aspects with the
welfare objectives. The rights of the doctors have been again violated by
making harsh rules and not taking into consideration their limitations and
constraints. The huge increase in registration fee, non-feasible obligations
and needless norms are bound to make private healthcare more expensive and
unreachable for the poor patients. The new rules are especially burdensome
for smaller nursing home, many of which are now likely to close down. Some
doctors even call these rules as death knell for small to medium nursing
homes. There are so many ambiguities in the rules, leaving a big scope for
unfavourable interpretations and inferences, as a result the doctors are
going to be exploited and may even fall victim to burgeoning corruption. The
bigger hospitals also find many of these restraining and onerous, thus
hampering the objective of affordable and accessible healthcare.
Vidarbha Hospital Association demands the quashing of this notification of
new hospital rules in Totality. If doctors are subjected to distress and
exploitation, they cannot serve their patients well, so both patients and
doctors stand to lose vastly by these new draconian hospital rules. The
Petitioners have prayed that all the new hospital rules should be set aside,
and if state Government has to bring new hospital rules, it has to take
doctors into confidence, so that the patients do not suffer because of
unreasonable regulations.
VHA has also appealed all social organisations to comprehend the gravity of
this new GOM order which makes private health care costlier since per bed
capital and recurring costs will increase immensely.
