In a major relief to the private nursing homes and clinics, the State administration is planning to incorporate some changes in the provisions of Clinical Establishment Act. Making the act applicable on hospitals having beds above a fixed number is one major change which surely will soothe frayed nerves of private medical practitioners. Confirming it the Secretary medical health and family welfare Nitesh Jha said that the plan is on anvil to exempt the clinics having less than a fixed number of beds from the provisions of the act. He however refused to inform about this fixed number. Jha made it clear that the clinics engaged in activities like in vitro fertilization (IVF) would be under the ambit of act and the criteria of minimum number of beds would not be applicable on them.

The Uttarakhand Chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has been consistently demanding that the Haryana model should be replicated in Uttarakhand for Clinical Establishment Act. In Haryana all clinical establishments having less than 50 beds have been exempted from the provisions of the act.

Uttarakhand may not replicate the exact model of Haryana but it is learnt that state could exempt clinical establishments with less than 30 beds from the act.

In an attempt to rein in the private clinics and hospitals, the state government implemented the Clinical Establish Act in the year 2016 but due to strong protest of the private doctors and lack of will on part of the authorities the act has not enforced the act in the state.

Under the provisions of the act it is compulsory for all the clinical establishments like doctor’s clinic, private hospitals, diagnostic centres, homoeopathic doctors and Ayush doctors to get them registered with the state council.

The act aims to regulate all clinical establishments with a view to prescribing the minimum standards of facilities and services provided by them.

The act calls for the clinical establishments to keep a record of the all the patients and disclose and display the type of services they provide. These establishments are bound to disclose the number and qualification of the staff they are employing and display the rate lists clearly under the act.