Minimum standards for TN clinics soon
Med Council To Establish Committee To Frame Norms
Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com 17.03.2018
Chennai: As the state awaits a Clinical Establishment Act, which will make licensing of all hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and labs mandatory, the Tamil Nadu medical council (TNMC) is in the process of chalking out the minimum standards for such establishments.
The council, which has so far limited itself to just initiating action against individual doctors, will soon set up a committee to frame guidelines that will empower it to pull up hospitals too. As part of this mechansim, the committee will compile a report which will stipulate the minimum standards for clinics, nursing homes and hospitals. “Meeting these standards will be mandatory,” said Dr K Senthil, president of the medical council.
“If we receive a complaint about a hospital or a clinic from the public, not meeting these standards could be used against them,” he said. At present, getting a certificate from accreditation agencies, like National Accreditation Board for Hospitals, is an asset but not a necessity to run hospitals in the state.
This is the first time that the council will be coming up with its own set of guidelines. Dr Senthil said that though the plan had been on the statutory body’s backburner for close to a decade, it was dug up in 2014 through a petition filed in the Madras high court.
“A man had lodged a complaint with the council first of medical negligence against a corporate hospital in Chennai, which caused his father’s death,” said Senthil. The council set aside the complaint saying that it had no power to act against hospitals.
When the case reached trial, the Madras high court, in consultation with the Medical Council of India, directed the state council to frame guidelines that would empower the statutory body to act against hospitals. Dr Senthil clarified that the new guidelines would only empower the council to initiate action in coordination with the state government.
“We can debar doctors as they are registered with us. For hospitals, we have no power. But we can provide assistance to the authorities who have penalising powers,” he said.
The necessary guidelines are expected to be ready by June this year, said members of the council, which recently held elections after close to two years of in-fighting.
The role and responsibilities of the council are, at present, defined and dictated by the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, Tamil Nadu Medical Registration Act, 1914, and Code of Ethics Regulations, 2002.
The guidelines are being framed at a time when the state government is preparing to pass a legislation during the next session of the Tamil Nadu assembly to allow patients to file criminal cases against hospitals for failing to display cost of diagnosis, treatment, and tests such as MRIs and other scans.
The legislation, which will allow the state to enforce the Tamil Nadu Private Clinical Establishment Act, 1997, will also apply to state-run hospitals.
Med Council To Establish Committee To Frame Norms
Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com 17.03.2018
Chennai: As the state awaits a Clinical Establishment Act, which will make licensing of all hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and labs mandatory, the Tamil Nadu medical council (TNMC) is in the process of chalking out the minimum standards for such establishments.
The council, which has so far limited itself to just initiating action against individual doctors, will soon set up a committee to frame guidelines that will empower it to pull up hospitals too. As part of this mechansim, the committee will compile a report which will stipulate the minimum standards for clinics, nursing homes and hospitals. “Meeting these standards will be mandatory,” said Dr K Senthil, president of the medical council.
“If we receive a complaint about a hospital or a clinic from the public, not meeting these standards could be used against them,” he said. At present, getting a certificate from accreditation agencies, like National Accreditation Board for Hospitals, is an asset but not a necessity to run hospitals in the state.
This is the first time that the council will be coming up with its own set of guidelines. Dr Senthil said that though the plan had been on the statutory body’s backburner for close to a decade, it was dug up in 2014 through a petition filed in the Madras high court.
“A man had lodged a complaint with the council first of medical negligence against a corporate hospital in Chennai, which caused his father’s death,” said Senthil. The council set aside the complaint saying that it had no power to act against hospitals.
When the case reached trial, the Madras high court, in consultation with the Medical Council of India, directed the state council to frame guidelines that would empower the statutory body to act against hospitals. Dr Senthil clarified that the new guidelines would only empower the council to initiate action in coordination with the state government.
“We can debar doctors as they are registered with us. For hospitals, we have no power. But we can provide assistance to the authorities who have penalising powers,” he said.
The necessary guidelines are expected to be ready by June this year, said members of the council, which recently held elections after close to two years of in-fighting.
The role and responsibilities of the council are, at present, defined and dictated by the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, Tamil Nadu Medical Registration Act, 1914, and Code of Ethics Regulations, 2002.
The guidelines are being framed at a time when the state government is preparing to pass a legislation during the next session of the Tamil Nadu assembly to allow patients to file criminal cases against hospitals for failing to display cost of diagnosis, treatment, and tests such as MRIs and other scans.
The legislation, which will allow the state to enforce the Tamil Nadu Private Clinical Establishment Act, 1997, will also apply to state-run hospitals.
No comments:
Post a Comment