Concerned over the quality standards in the corporate hospitals and clinical laboratories, the Quality Council of India (QCI) is devising about 42 new standards under Clinical Establishment Act 2010, to be adhered by hospitals and diagnostic centres in the country.

With every passing day number of corporate hospitals and diagnostic centres are mushrooming in India. Many of them are not even registered and even if registered they are not following basic mandatory quality standards putting the safety of patients in jeopardy.

As per the recommendation of 12th Planning Commission of India, the government of India is planning to double its spending on healthcare from 1.2 per cent of GDP last year to 2.5 per cent in the current financial year. Taking this into account the QCI is planning to achieve highest standards in healthcare and empower the patients with strong regulations.

According to sources, the QCI is planning to come out with a complete draft by the end of June 2012.

“We are in the process of developing 42 different standards for hospitals, pathology labs, Ayush clinics, dental clinics, wellness centres, radiology clinics, etc. under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010,” QCI Secretary General Girdhar J Gyani said.

As per the Clinical Establishment Act 2010, it prescribes standards for facilities and services as well as categorization for different classification of clinics. It also prescribes penalty for the defaulters leading to cancellation of license besides creation of a national registry of healthcare establishments.

Already the act had been notified on February 28, 2012 and has come into force on March 1, 2012 in 4 states, which include Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and all Union Territories.

As there is a huge public fund committed by the central government for health insurance schemes, in its current plan, it is high time for the other state governments like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka etc to quickly ratify the Central Act, opined a spokes person from QCI.

As the process of preparing the standards is going on, the QCI is also planning to seek the advice of Indian Medical Association (IMA), Dental Association, Department of Ayush, Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), for a comprehensive and effective draft.

Further assisting the government, the QCI is also compiling a national register of clinical establishments and classify these establishments into different categories while developing the minimum standards and their periodic review.