Even as the Clinical Establishment (Registration & Regulation) Bill, 2009, has been listed among the 62 Bills to be tabled in the on-going session of Parliament, the Union Health Ministry is learnt to have finalised the provisional registration Format which will kick-start the process of voluntary provisional registration of clinical establishments in the country.

However, since the Bill is in the consideration of Parliament, the ministry may not announce the Format immediately.

The provisional registration of clinical establishments is part of the Clinical Establishments Registration and Regulation Bill which is being proposed to be enacted by the government as a comprehensive legislative framework for the registration and regulation of clinical establishments in the country. It is aimed to provide among others minimum standards for facilities and services with a view to standardizing healthcare services and for achieving improvement of public health.

According to sources, the ministry has finalised the Format after incorporating several comments and suggestions from different stakeholders. The ministry had released around a year back the draft application form seeking comments and suggestions from the stakeholders for finalising the Format for provisional registration of clinical institutions in the country under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Bill, which is being formulated to introduce mandatory registration of all healthcare establishments in the country.

The stakeholders were given time till January 31, 2009 to send their comments and suggestions. The ministry had received several feedbacks from the stakeholders and experts. Since then the ministry has been toying with the subject to finalise the Format. The ministry's plan is to initiate the voluntary registration of clinical establishments to collect a database of clinical establishments spread across the country.

By the time the Bill is passed in Parliament, the ministry wanted to collect a database of clinical establishments spread across every nook and corner of the country. It was for this purpose that the ministry had finalized the Format. Once it announces the Format, the ministry will ask the clinical establishments to come forward voluntarily to register their establishment.

As per the Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2007 clinical establishment would include hospitals, maternity home, nursing home, dispensary, clinics and similar facilities with beds that offer diagnosis, treatment or care for illness or injury or pregnancy in any recognised system of medicine (Allopathy, Yoga, Naturopathy, Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Siddha and Unani).

It also includes any laboratory (either established as independent entity or part of an establishment) which offers pathological, bacteriological, genetic, radiological, chemical, biological and other diagnostic or investigative services. Furthermore, the establishment can be owned by the government or department of the government, a Trust (public or private), a corporation (including a cooperative society), a local authority and a single doctor establishment.