SC: Cannot file consumer plaint against govt docs

SC: Cannot file consumer plaint against govt docs

New Delhi: 

The Supreme Court has said that a person cannot file a consumer complaint against a doctor after getting free of cost treatment from a government hospital.

In terms of Section 2(1)(d)  (ii) of the Act, a consumer is the one who hires or avails of any services for a ‘consideration’ which has been paid or promised or partly paid or partly promised. Under this definition a person cannot be termed as consumer and file complaint against governemnt hospital. Now the SC has clarified that a complaint cannot be filed against goverement doctors also.

“...a medical officer who is employed in a hospital renders service on behalf of the hospital administration and if the service as rendered by the Hospital does not fall within the ambit of 2(1)(0) of the Act being free of charge, the same service cannot be treated as service under Section 2(1)(0) for the reasons that it has been rendered by medical officer in the hospital who receives salary for the employment in the hospital. It was thus concluded that the services rendered by employeemedical officer to such a person would therefore continue to be service rendered free of charge,” the SC said. TNN

Int’l fliers question RT-PCR charges, new 2% testing rule

Int’l fliers question RT-PCR charges, new 2% testing rule

Mehul.Jani@timesgroup.com

Surat:10,12,2021

Despite well-defined SOP issued by the government, the passengers, arriving from countries not in the ‘at risk’ list, who are randomly selected to undergo Covid-19 test are giving a tough time to airport officials.

Apart from “Why only me?” and “Why should I pay for the test?”, the airport officials have got used to international passengers complaining about the long wait they have to endure to get the RT-PCR test results.

Similar scenes were played at the Surat international airport after landing of the Sharjah-Surat in the wee hours of Thursday. Teams of airport staff, airline staff, Surat Municipal Corporation’s health team and laboratory staff were ready to screen the 164 passengers of the flight that landed at around 12.15am. Things were going on smoothly till the airline staff announced the names to 2% passengers, six in case of this flight, who were selected to undergo RT-PCR tests. It was not long before the six passengers — two German passport holders, one woman holding an Australian passport and three Indian citizens — started complaining.

The passengers questioned the logic behind testing just a few passengers. “If the government genuinely wants to check the spread of the new variant, they must check all the passengers, not just 2%,” a passenger said. Another passenger complained about being made to pay for the tests. “The government or the airline should pay for the test,” he reasoned.

The woman with an Australian passport said that she is not from an ‘at risk’ country still she is put through testing. “My kids are suffering as along with me they too have to wait at the airport till the RT-PCR test results arrive,” she said.

As per SOP, travellers are required to pay Rs 2,700 for rapid RT-PCR test, the result of which takes roughly one hour. Passengers can also opt for a regular RT-PCR test that costs Rs 400 but the result of which takes around six hours.

When TOI contacted airport officials for their comments, they said, “We have already discounted our 13% royalty. Many passengers protested about the 2% rule and the RT-PCR charges, but they must understand that we are just implementing the SOPs issued by the government.”

Students prepare to fly as Oz opens borders

Students prepare to fly as Oz opens borders

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:10,12,2021

Akash Mistry decided to pursue a master’s degree programme from Australia after completing his degree engineering in civil and infrastructure from Adani Institute of Infrastructure Engineering. He got admission to the University of Adelaide in July 2020 but could not be on campus as the country closed its borders due to Covid pandemic. After waiting for over 17 months during which he began online studies by opting for two subjects per semester, Mistry is now ready to fly and start on-campus education.

“Earlier, the Australian government said that the borders will reopen from December 1, but due to omicron variant, the plan has been revisited. As per the latest government guidelines, the border will now reopen from December 15,” said Mistry.

Thousands of students in the city, hoping to study in Australia, are working on their travel plans.

From December 15, fully vaccinated international students can travel to participating states and territories in Australia, quarantinefree without needing to apply for a travel exemption, according to the official website of Department of Home Affairs, Australian government.

Bhavin Thakker, a visa consultant, said that there are about 22,000 students from India who are expected to travel to Australia this year. Ritesh Desai, also a visa consultant from the city, said students from India have started looking to other overseas options like the US, Canada and the UK after Australia closed its borders for such a long time.

The ticket prices from Ahmedabad to Australia have soared from about Rs 50,00 per ticket to Rs 1.25 lakh following the announcement to reopen borders from December 15, he further said.

Harsh Prajapati, who took admission at Southern Cross University, in June 2020 has attended three semesters online. He is now ready to fly on December 19, and fulfill his dreams to study on campus in Australia.

Omicron concerns: Threefold rise in mask sales

Omicron concerns: Threefold rise in mask sales

10L Disposable Masks Being Sold Every Day

Niyati.Parikh@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad: 10.12,2021

As the new cases of Covid-19 begin showing a steady rise along with the added concern of the new Omicron variant, people have surely pulled their guards up. Clearly, the sale of masks as well as immunity boosters has increased threefolds in the past one week, according to estimates by Federation of Gujarat State Chemists and Druggists’ Association (FGSCDA).

In the past week, an estimated 10 lakh disposable masks and 3 lakh N95 masks were sold across Gujarat on a daily basis, suggest FGSCDA estimates. Gujarat is home to at least 24,000 chemists and pharmacies.

Alpesh Patel, chairman, FGSCDA, said, “With a steady rise in cases, people have their guards up. Especially with fewer restrictions on gatherings and public movements in place, people are exercising caution and are becoming increasingly careful and are choosing to wear masks at offices and other public places. As a consequence, the sales have gone up.” Gujarat reported some 70 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Friday till 5pm, according to data provided by the state government.

Even the demand for sanitisers has gone up by at least 50%, according to estimates by chemists. “In November, the sales of both masks as well as sanitisers had drastically dropped with barely any demand. However, over the past week to 10 days, the demand has once again begun picking up. People come asking for N95 masks as well as sanitisers,” said Ankur Aggarwal, co-founder, Medkart.

The sale of immunity boosters is also seeing a marginal increase. “So far, there is no exceptional demand for Covid-related medicines. However, some customers who had stopped purchasing immunity boosters such as vitamin C have once again begun placing orders for these medicines, ” said an Ahmedabad-based chemis.

Pay for juvenile diabetes treatment: Court

Pay for juvenile diabetes treatment: Court

INSURERS COULD NOT ESTABLISH THAT CHILD’S TYPE-1 DIABETES IS GENETIC DISORDER

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: 10.12.2021

A consumer court has ordered an insurance companies to reimburse the expenditure on treatment of juvenile diabetes with observation that the insurers could not establish that the child’s type-1 diabetes falls under the category of genetic disorder.

According to case details, Viramgam-resident Anilkumar Chavda’s 10-year-old son suffers from type-1 diabetes and was hospitalized in 2017.

Chavda had obtained a Happy Family Floater Policy with Silver Plan from the Oriental Insurance Co Ltd and M D India Health Care Services Pvt Ltd.

He sought reimbursement for treatment, Rs 48,882, which the insurers declined on the ground that the patient was treated for a disease which is a genetic disorder and according to the Mediclaim policy clause 4.15, such claim is not payable.

Chavda sued the insurers through Mukesh Parikh of Grahak Suraksha and Action Committee with the Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, Ahmedabad (City), where the insurance companies submitted that the claim papers were scrutinised and investigated by TPA and it found that the treatment for the child was genetic in origin and therefore not payable.

After hearing the case, the commission said that the child was hospitalised for type-1 diabetes treatment, but there was nothing in medical papers to indicate that the ailment falls under the category of genetic disorder, nor was there a remotest whisper in any of the papers produced by the insurers.

The commission cited a 2018 circular issued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and how the circular was put in abeyance after the orders of the Supreme Court and Delhi high court with regard to rejection of Mediclaim related to treatment of genetic disorder. Since the insurers in this case could not adduce any rebuttal evidence to establish that type-1 diabetes is a genetic disorder, “we hold that the opponents (insurers) have wrongly rejected the claim and which is a pointer to the deficiency in service and unfair trade practice”.

The commission ordered the insurers to pay Rs 43,938 with 7% interest since the date of filing of complaint. It deducted 10% of the claim according to the policy only. Besides, the insurers have been told to pay Rs 5,000 to Chavda as compensation towards mental harassment and legal expenditure.

REGION DIGEST

REGION DIGEST

10.12.2021

YouTuber held for tweet against govt

YouTuber Maridhas, who posted a controversial tweet about the DMK government, was arrested by the cyber crime wing attached to the Madurai city police on Thursday. A team of police officials went to arrest Maridhas at his house situated in Surya Nagar. However, BJP cadres including former MLA and Madurai district president of BJP Dr P Saravanan also went there and picked up an argument with the police officials against his arrest. They questioned the police officials for the reasons for the arrest and raised slogans against the police and the government. But, police managed to arrest Maridhas and took him to the nearby K Pudur police station.

Decomposed body found in house: The decomposed body of a 50-year-old man was found at his house in Keezhadevadhanam in Trichy on Wednesday. The deceased was identified as A Selvakumar, 50 at Keezha Devadhanam. Neighbours noticed his body after a stench emanated from the house that had been locked from December 6. Locals informed his wife S Sujatha, 40, who was residing in Keeranur in Pudukkottai district. The cause of death was yet to the ascertained by the Fort police station.

Elephant tramples man to death: A wild elephant trampled a 70-year-old man to death at Anaikatti on Thursday morning. According to police, the man, identified as K Karai of Arnadukadu village near the Anaikatti forest, had gone to the forest to attend nature’s call. Police recovered the body and sent it for postmortem. The Thadagam police are investigating the incident.

TNSTC driver dies of heart attack: A 45-year-old bus driver parked the bus he was driving with more than 40 passengers safely on the roadside moments before he died of a cardiac arrest on Thursday morning. M Arumugam, attached to the Madurai mofussil bus depot, has been a driver with the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) for 13 years. He was driving on the Madurai-Kodaikanal route and left the Arapalayam bus stand in the city at 6.20am.

Narikurava family thrown out of bus, staff suspended

SWIFT ACTION

Narikurava family thrown out of bus, staff suspended

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kanyakumari:12.10.2021

Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) has placed under suspension the driver and conductor of a government bus on charges of forcing a narikurava family to get down from it at Nagercoil on Thursday evening. This was after a video of a visually-impaired old man, a woman and a child being ejected out of the bus and their luggage bundles thrown out by the conductor was circulated on social media. The child was seen inconsolably crying in distress.

TNSTC Nagercoil division general manager held an inquiry and initiated action against both the employees. A statement from the manager said the bus (TN 74 N 1802) attached to Thiruvattar branch was running on route number 565 from Nagercoil to Tirunelveli with C Nelson as driver and C S Jayadas conductor. As the bus was leaving Vadasery bus stand, the family was forced to get down from the bus. Information technology minister T Mano Thangaraj tweeted that action has been taken against the driver and conductor after he took up the issue with top TNSTC officials.

This is the second such incident of TNSTC crew forcing people belonging to certain classes of the society to get down from buses this week in the district. Both the incidents were caught on video and shared on social media, resulting in suspension of the crew. In the previous incident, a woman selling fish was forced to get down from the bus. A senior TNSTC official also apologised to the woman in person.