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State will soon take steps to settle disputes in hospitals

The state government has assured the Bombay high court that it will put in place a mechanism within six weeks to settle disputes between hospitals and patients over non-payment of hospital bills.

The state government has assured the Bombay high court that it will put in place a mechanism within six weeks to settle disputes between hospitals and patients over non-payment of hospital bills.

The HC was hearing dozens of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) regarding patients being detained by hospitals as their families and relatives could not pay their bill. In June, a division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.A. Sayed had directed the state to set up a six-member committee to look into the issue of hospitals and doctors refusing to discharge patients or release bodies over non-payment of medical bills. The court had said that the committee would help set up a mechanism for action to be taken by the state in such cases. The bench had asked the committee to submit its recommendations in court.

On Wednesday, assistant public prosecutor Mankunvar Deshmukh said that as of now, the committee had held two meetings but could not reach any conclusion. The state also produced minutes of these meetings in court. “We need six weeks’ time to set up a mechanism because this will be applicable not only in Mumbai, but in all districts of the state,”said Mr Deshmukh. He further said that the state government was thinking of bringing in transparency between hospitals and patients. He added that Assembly sessions were going on and they could not obtain relevant information from officials as they were busy with the sessions.

The high court accepted the state’s contentions and allowed it six weeks’ time to set up the said mechanism. “We have seen all the minutes of the meetings and observed that the committee is looking into all issues which the court has directed for resolution, so an extension should be given to the committee,”said the bench.

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