The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission, which was set up in March 2017 to adjudicate on allegations of malpractice against private health-care facilities in the state, sat in Malda on Tuesday to conduct its first hearing outside Kolkata.
The commission heard a complaint from the mother of a child who was admitted to a private hospital in Malda. During the course of the hearing, the hospital voluntarily offered a discount from the bill, said retired judge Ashim Banerjee, chairperson of the commission.
Banerjee said the reason for organising in-person hearings in districts was to spread awareness about the activities of the commission.
“Our objective is to let more people know about us and our work so as to let more people benefit by approaching us,” Banerjee said.
The commission primarily deals with complaints of overcharging by private clinical establishments.
The commission also met senior officials from Malda, Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur district administrations. “We discussed with them what should be the way forward in the coming days,” said Banerjee.
It was decided during the discussions that all private clinical establishments in the three districts would be asked to hang banners bearing information about the website and phone number of the commission.
The commission also plans to open a call centre where people can seek help. “The call centre’s phone number will also be displayed on the banners,” the chairperson said. The commission is in talks with Webel about the setting up of the call centre, he said.
The commission members and officials of the district administration also discussed ways to fix loopholes in the Swasthya Sathi scheme, a universal health insurance scheme offered by the Bengal government.
“In Kolkata, hospitals refuse admission under the Swasthya Sathi scheme. In districts, the problems surrounding Swasthya Sathi are different. Patients admitted under the scheme are made to pay under different ploys,” said Banerjee.
He later told The Telegraph that hospitals that were admitting patients under Swasthya Sathi were imposing conditions that implants would be charged separately and medicines would not be covered under the scheme.
The district administration can conduct surprise visits to find out if such things are happening, Banerjee said. “We have decided that henceforth if we receive complaints from outside Kolkata, we will involve the district chief medical officer of health (CMOH) in the hearing,” he said.
In Malda, the commission’s members also met five persons from the three districts who had been awarded compensation by the panel. It emerged while talking to them that they were from a relatively well-off section of society, a reason why they were aware of the commission’s work.
“We requested them to spread word about us to more people,” said Banerjee.
On Wednesday, the commission’s members will meet officials of hospitals from the three districts that have 10 or more beds.
The commission will visit Purulia’s Raghunathpur next week.