Chief Justice’s division bench held the government responsible for the delayed GO Hima Kohli And Justice B Vijayasena Reddy said: “People asked you (government) to rein in private hospitals. We told you to bring GO. You finally made it to the end of the second wave.”
When Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivasa Rao informed the bench that the government had issued a GO (No. 401 dated June 22, 2021) for various tests, treatments, drugs etc., the judges said that the GO did not specify Still, how much penalty is to be imposed? DPH Acknowledged that the mandate required amendments and assured the court that it would fulfill them by including punishment for each offence.
“Have a prohibitively high penalty. This should make them (private hospitals) wary of charging extra charges,” the judges said. He asked the DPH to submit a fresh affidavit by July 7. “Give wide publicity to capping GO,” the judges said while hearing a batch of PILs. COVID-19.
Senior Advocate L Ravi Chander, Advocate Karam C Komireddy and Arjun Kumar explained in detail how Kerala was imposing a fine which is 10 times more than the additional charges charged by the hospitals there. The judges said this will certainly act as a deterrent on hospitals which may think twice before charging huge bills from patients if the state government also imposes a strict regime like Kerala.
The DPH said that the government is already taking action on private hospitals and added that they have received 350 complaints against 170 private hospitals. “We returned ₹70 lakh to the families of the patients in 30 cases,” he said.
However, the advocates did not agree with his reply and said that the hospitals were charging the same amount from each patient during the second wave. “People should have the option to get their hard earned money back,” he said. The judges said a mechanism was already in place.
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