Two years after notification of Goa Medical Practitioner’s Rule, over 200 of Goa’s hospitals, laboratories are illegal
The chargesheet of two government doctors recently in RavinaRodrigues’s death by medical negligence has brought to the fore the existenceof an unregulated, illegally driven healthcare sector in the State. What iseven worse is the fact that most of the healthcare units in the State standunrecognized by the law.
The Goan’s investigation has revealed that over 149hospitals and hundreds of clinics, laboratories and X-ray diagnostics centresin the State are operating in clear violation of The Goa Medical PractitionersAct, 2004 and Rules of 2011. The Directorate of Health Services has processedonly 67 applications since 2011 when the rules had been notified. The listincludes 10 hospitals, 43 clinics, 7 pathology laboratories and 7 dentalsurgeries.
The people who go to the rest of the healthcare units in theState go at their own risk.
“The act clearly states that all medical establishments haveto register themselves with the health department. We are accepting,scrutinizing and issuing licenses to the applicant”, informs Dr M. Mohandas,Deputy Director of Health Services. As per the Act, all hospitals, nursinghomes, clinics, diagnostics centres, pathology laboratory have to registrarthemselves with the DHS. The act was introduced to provide for medicaltreatment only by qualified medical practitioners and to stop unauthorizedpractice and medical treatment.
However, despite a pro-patient act in place, DHS’slackadaisical attitude has led to various unauthorized hospitals, laboratoriescontinuing to dish out suspect medicare as they are not registered under theact.
“When the Act was notified we all were orally informed thatthis Act will be kept in abeyance”, says Dr Govind Kamat, spokesperson,Association of Private Nursing Homes. “As the draft bill was prepared in 2004and notified only in 2011, there were huge discrepancies,” he added.
All state government efforts to ensure that the entirehealthcare sector comes under the ambit of law has been consistentlystonewalled by the influential healthcare lobby in the State as APNH’s standconfirms.
Dr Kamat further explains the reluctance of his organizationto fall in line by stressing, “We had approached the then government as well asthe Leader of the Opposition, Manohar Parrikar informing that this act willcreate problems for medical sector. It was then decided that the new clinicalbill would be drafted which will be based on central Acts and will be morestate oriented.” Dr Kamat however fails to explain why his association isrefusing to get registered.
At the heart of the matter of this resistance are twocrucial clauses that the healthcare providers are resisting.
While the Act makes it mandatory for all doctors to getthemselves registered, it bars government doctors as well as doctors from othersystems of medicine such as ayurveda and homeopathy to practice in the licensedestablishments.
The doctors are also resisting the stringent penaltiesbesides the fact that the government will be setting the minimum prescribedstandards for each kind of healthcare unit.
Currently, the smaller towns of Goa as well as outskirts ofthe bigger cities have hospitals that have abysmal standards. Even the RavinaRodrigues’ Enquiry Report talked of unhygienic conditions at Pai Hospital ofVasco.
While the DHS is dragging its feet to act on all those whohave not applied for the licences, Dr Mohandas revealed that the Goa Medical Practitioner’sAct is not in abeyance. “DHS is very much in the process of issuing licensesand will take action whenever a complaint is received against those who havenot registered themselves.”
But for the moment, the healthcare industry in Goa does notcare for the law.
