SC seeks Centre, MCI’s reply on guidelines for Pvt Hospitals

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) Are there any guidelines forprivate hospitals to make attendants aware of the treatmentbeing provided to the patients admitted in ICUs or CCUs? The Supreme Court has asked this question to the Centre,states and Medical Council of India (MCI) following a petitionby a man who lost his daughter-in-law due to allegednegligence on the part of doctors treating her at a privatehospital in West Bengal. Relatives or friends of patients, who spend hours outsidethe Intensive Care and Critical Care Units of privatehospitals, many a times do not have any idea as to whattreatment was being administered to their loved ones. A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit took noteof the plea that the kin of critically-ill patients inprivate hospitals usually remained clueless about thetreatment and care being administered. The bench issued notice to the Centre, MCI and stategovernments and sought their responses within six weeks,saying those who suffer due to negligence on part of thedoctor or hospital administration, can move consumer forumsfor compensation if information about the treatment isavailable with them. The court’s order came on the plea of one Asit BaranMandal, a resident of West Bengal, who alleged negligence onpart of a doctor in treating his daughter-in-law. Mandal lost his daughter-in-law on account of allegedmedical negligence in post-operation care. The plea alleged that the treating physician did not askfor a Liver Function Tests (LFT) soon after Mandal’s daughter-in-law was operated upon for her pregnancy. She died three days after the operation as her bilirubinlevels touched alarming levels, it said adding that the deathcould have been avoided had the levels been checked on thefirst day itself. "Medical negligence is writ large in a number of privatehospitals and there is no check on it," the petition filed byMandal stated, adding that no proper care is givenpost-operation which is crucial to a patient’s recovery. PTIMNL SJK ABA RKSARC