New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday left it to the states to take appropriate policy decisions to protect patients and their attendants from being "fleeced" and taken "undue advantage" of after a PIL alleged that they are compelled to purchase medicines and medical devices at a higher rate from pharmacies run at private hospitals.

The apex court also stressed that any mandatory direction by it may hamper the functioning of private hospitals and have a cascading effect. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh disposed of a PIL filed by a law student Siddharth Dalmia and his advocate father Vijay Pal Dalmia that alleged that the private hospitals compel the patients and their attendants to purchase medicines from in-house pharmacies or those with which they have collaboration, and they are charged higher rates for medicines, implants and medical devices.

The bench said, "We dispose of this petition with direction to all state governments to consider this issue and take appropriate policy decisions as they deem fit." Noting that health is a state subject, the bench said relevant regulatory measures can be taken by the state governments keeping their local conditions in mind.

Highlighting that the issue falls in the policy domain, the bench said it is for the policymakers to take a holistic view of the matter and frame appropriate guidelines ensuring there is no exploitation of the patients and their attendants and, at the same time, there is no discouragement and an unreasonable restriction for the private entities to enter the health sector. The top court said it would not be advisable for the court to issue any mandatory directions on the PIL to private hospitals but emphasised the need to sensitise the state governments about the alleged problem of fleecing and exploitation of patients and their attendants by private hospitals taking undue advantage of their conditions. The bench said under the Constitution, the state is obligated to provide better health facilities to its citizenry but due to the rise in population, it had to take the help of private hospitals to cater to the needs of its people. It said citizens' right to better health facilities is a right traceable to Article 21 of the Constitution.