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| Sunday, 6 July 2003 |
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Private health sector to be monitored by Shanika Sriyananda The much awaited legislation to control and monitor the activities of private medical institutions, will be presented before Parliament shortly. A draft of the Private Medical Institutions Bill has been forwarded to the Legal Draftsman's Department by the Ministry of Health. The legislation scheduled to be implemented 12 years ago, will establish operational guidelines for private hospitals, nursing homes, maternity homes, medical laboratories, blood banks, dental surgeries, dispensaries, consultation rooms and other establishments providing health screening or health promotion service. The Ministry of Health, it is understood, had not been able to finalise the Bill as some parties had been opposing to some of the provisions. "The parties agreed to the Bill following discussions with the Minister of Health P. Dayaratne", said Dr. Harsha Amal de Silva, Director Private Health Sector Development. According to Ministry sources, there are 160 private medical institutions and 800 private dispensaries including family physicians in the country. Over 60 per cent of the population obtain medical treatment from private medical institutions, and a majority of them seek medical treatment through channelled services and family physicians. The Bill necessitates the appointment of an Executive Council to monitor the activities of private health institutions and minimise irregularities. There have been a number of complaints against private hospitals about poor quality services, as they lack trained medical staff to provide a satisfactory service. "Four persons from private health institutions will represent the Executive Council", said Dr. de Silva who will be the Secretary of the Executive Council. Once the legislation is in force, any person seeks to commence a private medical service will have to register with the Council within three months of establishing the service. " The application should be forwarded through the provincial Directors of health", he said.According to Dr. de Silva, the Bill will also prevent hospitals from increasing charges at random. "There will be a range for all services and they have to charge within that range", he pointed out adding that for a particular service the charges will be within the same range in every private hospital. This Bill, will also make it essential for all medical institutions to have a well trained and experienced medical staff including nurses, and attendants. Private hospitals without qualified staff will not be allowed to function in future. Fines will be imposed on private health institutions which neglect the provisions in the Bill. |
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