Badrul Ahsan :
The government has initiated a move to set a unique standard in health services and charges for private hospitals and clinics, official sources said.
The authority has taken the move in the face of widespread allegations that many of the hospitals and clinics are demanding exorbitant charges for their services and in many cases quality of services they are providing are also very poor.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has recently prepared a draft to reform the existing act and sent it to the Ministry of law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) for vetting.
The proposed private hospitals and clinics law will empower the authorities concerned to cancel licences and to take harsh punitive
measures against errant operators, officials have said.
As per the draft, the monitoring authority will have the power to make surprise visit to any hospital or clinic. If they find any service or charge non-compliant, they will be able to penalise the organisation or suspend its operation or seal it during the visit.
“We have drafted the amendments to existing law empowering the watchdog to curb irregularities in the health sector of the country,” an Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health told The New Nation on Wednesday, preferring anonymity.
“There are many limitations in the existing act in taking punitive measures against non-compliant hospitals and clinics, but the amendment has proposed allowing enough power to the watchdogs which will help implement a system in the sector,” he said.
“Issues like setting a unique standard in health services and charges for private hospitals and clinics have been incorporated in the draft. If everything goes accordingly, we hope the bill will be passed soon,” the Additional Secretary informed.
Prof Dr Md Shamiul Islam, Director (Hospital and Clinic) of the Directorate General of Health Services said the office had a little scope to take action against non-compliant hospitals. Cashing in on it, he said, unscrupulous businesspeople were doing brisk business.
“We could not take any strict measures against irregularities of private hospitals and clinics. If the amended law empowers us to take strict measures, it will be possible for us to ensure a certain standard of health services,” he said.
However, the proposed law also seeks to empower the authority to request the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) to bar any physician from providing health services if his or her services are found inconsistent with patients’ rights.
In addition, it seeks to empower the authority to look into services, equipment and service charges any time and take any sort of punitive measures.
Running private clinics or hospital business in a joint venture with foreign investors has also brought under jurisdiction of the authority.
The government has initiated a move to set a unique standard in health services and charges for private hospitals and clinics, official sources said.
The authority has taken the move in the face of widespread allegations that many of the hospitals and clinics are demanding exorbitant charges for their services and in many cases quality of services they are providing are also very poor.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has recently prepared a draft to reform the existing act and sent it to the Ministry of law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) for vetting.
The proposed private hospitals and clinics law will empower the authorities concerned to cancel licences and to take harsh punitive
measures against errant operators, officials have said.
As per the draft, the monitoring authority will have the power to make surprise visit to any hospital or clinic. If they find any service or charge non-compliant, they will be able to penalise the organisation or suspend its operation or seal it during the visit.
“We have drafted the amendments to existing law empowering the watchdog to curb irregularities in the health sector of the country,” an Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health told The New Nation on Wednesday, preferring anonymity.
“There are many limitations in the existing act in taking punitive measures against non-compliant hospitals and clinics, but the amendment has proposed allowing enough power to the watchdogs which will help implement a system in the sector,” he said.
“Issues like setting a unique standard in health services and charges for private hospitals and clinics have been incorporated in the draft. If everything goes accordingly, we hope the bill will be passed soon,” the Additional Secretary informed.
Prof Dr Md Shamiul Islam, Director (Hospital and Clinic) of the Directorate General of Health Services said the office had a little scope to take action against non-compliant hospitals. Cashing in on it, he said, unscrupulous businesspeople were doing brisk business.
“We could not take any strict measures against irregularities of private hospitals and clinics. If the amended law empowers us to take strict measures, it will be possible for us to ensure a certain standard of health services,” he said.
However, the proposed law also seeks to empower the authority to request the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) to bar any physician from providing health services if his or her services are found inconsistent with patients’ rights.
In addition, it seeks to empower the authority to look into services, equipment and service charges any time and take any sort of punitive measures.
Running private clinics or hospital business in a joint venture with foreign investors has also brought under jurisdiction of the authority.
