50k hosps, clinics yet to register with state
Directorate Has Received 18k Applications
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:05.04.2019
At least 50,000 clinical establishments, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, laboratories and scan centres may have to close down if they fail to apply for registration with the state health department under the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishments Act, 2018 before May 31, the directorate of medical services has said.
Until Friday, the directorate had received just 18,000 applications from various establishments against the expected 75,000.
In March 2018, the state framed a legislation making it mandatory for all clinical establishments — public or private — to register themselves with the government. “The deadline for registration ended on March 31. As per the Act, from June 31, we can initiate action or close down those establishments which have not applied for registration. They still have some grace period left to register themselves,” said director of medical services Dr N Rukmini.
The directorate has a software that centralizes the whole process and enables online registration. Joint directors of medical services in the districts have also collected hand-filled applications along with a demand draft towards registration. The joint directors will inspect these establishments to ensure they fulfil the infrastructure and human resource requirements as specified in the Act. If the hospitals qualify, they will be given a licence for five years.
The new rules, health department officials say, were brought in to standardize establishments under the allopathic or Indian medicine stream. It specifies the floor space requirement, waiting area, safe drinking water supply and toilets. While doctors’ bodies such as the Indian Medical Association have welcomed the move, associations of Unani practitioners and diagnostic laboratories associations have moved court seeking exemptions or relaxations in the norms. “There are several single room labs in the state in many rural areas. They have not applied yet because they may not fulfil the requirement,” said Doctors Association for Social Equality (Dase) general secretary Dr G R Ravindranath.
The legislation mandates clinical laboratories in rural areas to have at least 500 sqft for sample collection, first aid, processing and report presentation. In the urban area, space should be 700 sqft to 1,500 sqft. The lab should ensure that adequate space is provided for reception, sample collection, isolation of biohazard, radioisotope-related work as per Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) rules.
The labs’ association have moved court seeking exemption. “The overheads will go through the roof if we are made to follow the rules. Eventually, we will have to bill patients more. In rural areas, people will not be able to pay so much and we will go out of business,” said Karthirvel R, who runs a lab in Nagercoil. “We hope rules are relaxed for us,” he said.
Directorate Has Received 18k Applications
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai:05.04.2019
At least 50,000 clinical establishments, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, laboratories and scan centres may have to close down if they fail to apply for registration with the state health department under the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishments Act, 2018 before May 31, the directorate of medical services has said.
Until Friday, the directorate had received just 18,000 applications from various establishments against the expected 75,000.
In March 2018, the state framed a legislation making it mandatory for all clinical establishments — public or private — to register themselves with the government. “The deadline for registration ended on March 31. As per the Act, from June 31, we can initiate action or close down those establishments which have not applied for registration. They still have some grace period left to register themselves,” said director of medical services Dr N Rukmini.
The directorate has a software that centralizes the whole process and enables online registration. Joint directors of medical services in the districts have also collected hand-filled applications along with a demand draft towards registration. The joint directors will inspect these establishments to ensure they fulfil the infrastructure and human resource requirements as specified in the Act. If the hospitals qualify, they will be given a licence for five years.
The new rules, health department officials say, were brought in to standardize establishments under the allopathic or Indian medicine stream. It specifies the floor space requirement, waiting area, safe drinking water supply and toilets. While doctors’ bodies such as the Indian Medical Association have welcomed the move, associations of Unani practitioners and diagnostic laboratories associations have moved court seeking exemptions or relaxations in the norms. “There are several single room labs in the state in many rural areas. They have not applied yet because they may not fulfil the requirement,” said Doctors Association for Social Equality (Dase) general secretary Dr G R Ravindranath.
The legislation mandates clinical laboratories in rural areas to have at least 500 sqft for sample collection, first aid, processing and report presentation. In the urban area, space should be 700 sqft to 1,500 sqft. The lab should ensure that adequate space is provided for reception, sample collection, isolation of biohazard, radioisotope-related work as per Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) rules.
The labs’ association have moved court seeking exemption. “The overheads will go through the roof if we are made to follow the rules. Eventually, we will have to bill patients more. In rural areas, people will not be able to pay so much and we will go out of business,” said Karthirvel R, who runs a lab in Nagercoil. “We hope rules are relaxed for us,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment