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High Court intervention sought for regulation
The division bench of High Court comprising Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice Anis on Monday admitted a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, seeing a direction to the government to regulate the rapidly growing private corporate health sector.
Hyderabad: The division bench of High Court comprising Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice Anis on Monday admitted a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, seeing a direction to the government to regulate the rapidly growing private corporate health sector.
The Court issued notices to both the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh State governments and the Vigilance Departments of both the States. It also issued notices to Care Hospitals, Global Hospitals and Apollo Hospitals of Hyderabad as the PIL had arraigned these hospitals as respondents.
The petitioner, Narender Kazipeta, whose sister T Sunitha, died due to alleged callousness of Care Hospitals, brought to the notice of the Court the episode of Nikhil Reddy, a software professional, who underwent a surgical procedure for increase of his height by three inches in Global Hospitals on the “unscrupulous advice” of doctors.
Justice V Ramasubramian remarked how a friend known to him had died after undergoing a hair transplantation surgery as he was balding. When the judge asked as to why the Apollo Hospitals had been arraigned as a respondent in this petition, it was submitted that the main accused in the kidney racket of the Delhi branch of Apollo Hospitals is in the State, too. In this context the court issued notices to all the private respondents.
The counsel for the petitioner N S Arjun Kumar, in his submissions, told the bench how lack of governmental regulation on the corporate health hospitals was causing grave loss to both the patients and the government. A spate of unnecessary hysterectomies was being performed by the private hospitals to gain the benefit of Arogyasri funds. Despite Vigilance inquiries ordered by the governments, no action had been taken to fix the responsibility and recover the monies.
According to National Sample Survey statistics regarding “Health in India,” over 75 per cent of people in both the Telugu-speaking States depended on private hospitals for their health care. In this context, he cited Governor E S L Narasimhan's public statements lamenting the TS and AP governments’ non-response to his suggestions that they take steps to ensure that corporate hospitals look after people more humanely.
“Are we becoming a sick nation? Why are we spending so much money on medicines? What is going wrong with us? These are the answers which we need to find”, the Governor had stated. The present PIL is on those lines only, said the counsel. After ordering admission and notices to the Respondents, the matter was adjourned for further hearing.
