Clinical establishments to have kiosks for providing information on services, charges: Veena George

Health Minister was speaking in connection with the introduction of the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2024, in the Assembly. The Bill was later referred to the subject committee

Clinical establishments have, in principle, agreed to set up electronic kiosks for providing information on the services on offer and the fees charged for them, Minister for Health Veena George informed the State Assembly on Thursday.

Ms. George was speaking in connection with the introduction of the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2024, and the motion for its reference to the subject committee. The decision to install the kiosks is the outcome of discussions where the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had taken a lead role. The government views it as a major step forward, she said.

Legislators had stressed the need to introduce slabs for the rates charged by hospitals for various services and treatments, so as to prevent patients from being fleeced. The Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2018, requires clinical establishments to display the fee charged for services, amenities and packages in a prominent manner in both Malayalam and English. However, this provision is currently under a High Court stay, the Minister said.

The government is trying to get the stay vacated and arrive at a consensus on the matter through dialogue with the stakeholders, she said.

On the proposed e-health initiative to ensure that medical records of patients are accessible across hospitals with their consent, Ms. George said that it can be implemented in government hospitals linked to the e-health programme in about six months. The proposal, which involves the creation of electronically-generated IDs, had come under flak from various quarters, leading to litigation, the Minister noted.

Among other things, the bill seeks to increase the term of permanent registration under the Act from three years to five. Ms. George noted that the registration authority will still hold the power to cancel the registration if the conditions are not met.

The bill was subsequently referred to the subject committee.

On Thursday, the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises and Other Enterprises Facilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Kerala Industrial Single Window Clearance Boards and Industrial Township Area Development (Amendment) Bill, 2024, also were referred to the subject committee.

Published - October 10, 2024 09:05 pm IST