PUNE: An inspection has revealed that the municipal corporation and the hospital themselves are not implementing the provisions of patient welfare, even though they are made mandatory by law. If there is any doubt or complaint about the hospital's additional rate, the question of where the patient should go to complain remains unanswered even after two years, despite the law's provision.

According to the Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration Act, every private and government hospital is required by law to display a "Patient Rights Charter," a "Tariff Sheet," and "Grievances Redressal Room" information for patients in the facility. A study was conducted on behalf of the "Patient Rights Campaign" and "Saathi" Pune hospitals to verify whether this was being implemented. Between October 2022 and December 2022, a total of 40 private hospitals in the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation were inspected. During this inspection, it was discovered that, despite having knowledge of patient welfare provisions laws, they are not being implemented in private hospitals.

The findings of the inspection were reported to the Patient Rights Council. On this occasion, the representative of the Municipal Corporation was Dr. Manisha Naik, a public health expert, Dr. Abhay Shukla, Secretary of the Hospital Association, Manjusha Kulkarni, Dr. Kishore Khilare, Kajal Jain of Masoom Sanstha, and Dr. Dhananjay Kakade were present. Vinod Shende and Shakuntala Bhalerao gave information about the findings of the inspection.

The S.M. Patient Rights Conference was held in Joshi Auditorium in Pune. The conference was attended by health movement experts, social movement activists, hospital association secretaries, and municipal corporation representatives. On this occasion, a survey report of a private hospital in Pune was presented. Municipal officials and the hospital association responded positively to it.