A group of like-minded health rights organisations led by Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali (KJC) has recommended to the State government that the proposed amendments to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act, 2007, should not include the public health system.
At a meeting organised by KJC on Friday to discuss and make recommendations for the amendment, the activists said the suggestion of private hospitals’ representatives in the amendments committee, headed by the former High Court Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen, that public health facilities also be included under the Act by dropping the word “private” from it, will be a grave mistake.
“We strongly recommend that the government retain the focus of the KPME Act on the ‘private healthcare establishments’ and not include the public health system under the said Act,” said Akhila Vasan from KJC. “Besides, protection of patient rights should be made explicit in the preamble of the Act. A separate competent authority should be set up at the State and district levels to enforce the Act,” she said.
The presence of representatives of private medical establishments (PMEs) or professional bodies such as IMA within the regulatory body with responsibility of enforcing the Act will constitute a conflict of interest. “Therefore we are suggesting that representatives of PMEs or IMA or equivalent bodies should not be part of the state or district regulatory authority,” she added.
