Supreme Court Directs Centre to Finalize Standard Hospital Charges Within a Month

The Supreme Court has expressed dissatisfaction with the significant difference in the cost of cataract surgery between government and private hospitals, highlighting the failure of the Centre to enforce a 14-year-old law. This law, the Clinical Establishment (Central Government) Rules, requires the establishment of standard rates for treatments and procedures, in consultation with states, for various ailments in metropolitan areas, cities, and towns. Cataract surgery, for instance, can cost up to Rs 10,000 per eye in government hospitals, while private facilities charge anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 1,40,000.

The government informed the Supreme Court that despite multiple communications to the states on the matter, they have not responded. The Supreme Court asserted that citizens have a fundamental right to healthcare and emphasized that the Centre cannot evade its responsibility on this basis. According to a report of Times of India, It asked Union health secretary to call a meeting of his state counterparts to ensure notification of a standard rate within a month. If Union govt fails to find a solution, then we will consider petitioner's plea for implementing CGHS-prescribed standardised rates, SC warned.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the NGO 'Veterans Forum for Transparency in Public Life' through advocate Danish Zubair Khan requested the Centre to establish the fee rates chargeable from patients, as per Rule 9 of the Clinical Establishment (Central Government) Rules, 2012. According to the Rules, all hospitals and clinical establishments are required to maintain their registration by adhering to certain guidelines. These guidelines include prominently displaying the rates charged for each type of service provided and the facilities available for the benefit of patients in both vernacular and English languages. Additionally, they must ensure that the rates charged for each type of procedure and service fall within the range of rates determined and issued by the Centre in consultation with state governments, as per the prevailing regulations.

Petitioner told a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta that Centre acted promptly in notifying standardised rates for treatment of patients during Covid and that if states did not cooperate in framing range of rates for treatment of ailments, it could use powers under central laws to unilaterally notify fees to be charged for different procedures, TOI reported.