Giving in to the rising complaints about delay in getting letters pertaining to case hearings under Right to Information (RTI) Act, the A.P. State Information Commission is planning to send Short Message Service (SMS) to complainants, Public Information Commissioners and Appellate authorities.
This move comes in the wake of complaints from RTI applicants about lack of communication or the delay in speed posts from the Commission about cases to address grievances of the applicants. Every month, nearly 400 letters are despatched through speed posts but applicants complain about lack of communication or delay in receiving the letters, said M. Vijaya Nirmala, State Information Commissioner here on Saturday.
To fix these problems, there are plans to send SMS on mobiles to the applicants, besides authorities concerned. The SMS will have details pertaining to case number, venue for the meeting, timing and other details, she said.
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“We will explore the idea of having a tie-up with mobile service providers, especially Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for taking up this project,” said Ms. Nirmala.
In addition to this, instructions have been issued to Directorate of Medical Education to ensure that all corporate hospitals display the tariffs to be charged for different diagnostics tests. Despite this being mandatory for hospital managements, many were not complying with these instructions.
In the current medical practice of diagnostics and treatment, patients were being asked to undergo several diagnostics tests before commencing treatment. There are several complaints from patients about hospitals collecting exorbitant charges for tests. To avoid this menace, A.P. Private Medical Care Establishments Act, made it mandatory for hospitals to display tariffs for tests, she said while addressing a press conference here.
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Ms. Nirmala said to offer better service and to address grievances of RTI applicants, special meetings would be conducted on every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Sub-Collector’s Office in the city. Applicants can lodge complaints or give suggestions on 96188-66599.