Delhi high court has rejectedthe direct authorities to fix even rates to be charged by private nursing homes and hospitals as the amount would depend upon the nature and type of disease and the quality of treatment provided.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar recently dismissed a PIL seeking directions to Delhi government to issue a notification to keep uniformity in charges levied by private nursing homes and hospitals in the capital.

The court highlighted that charges levied by a private nursing home or hospital would depend upon the facilities available with them and it can’t be made uniform across the board.

The court noted that observing the petitions made in this writ plea, there cannot be uniformity in charging the rates by private nursing homes and hospitals from the patients falling under general category. All private nursing homes and hospitals cannot be compared with respect to the charges required to be paid by the patients. It will depend upon the nature of disease/diagnosis of the patients and the type of treatment given by the private homes/hospitals. Even, the charges to be paid by the patients as levied by the private nursing homes and hospitals depend upon the facilities made available to them. Therefore, thereis no reason to entertain this writ petition.

The bench had also noted in its judgment that the charges depend upon a variety of factors, including number of facilities being provided by the private nursing homes and hospitals, the swiftness in providing services, efficiency of the staff and quality of services, declining to issue directions on a PIL by an NGO.

NGO Legal Forum for Women Empowerment had not only sought uniformity in charges of private nursing homes and hospitals, but also a tool to help public lodge their complaints or raise complaints against any malpractice or mismanagement by such organizations.

Source: ET Healthworld