Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Taking cognizance on Jabalpur hospital fire, State Information commission has laid down the ruling that all the clinics and hospital of private sectors come under purview of RTI ( Right to Information) Act. Information related to registration and approval of operation of any clinic and hospitals will have to be furnished in the state within 30 days.
In this important decision issued to the health department, Information Commissioner Rahul Singh said that health is a subject directly related to the public and giving this information will help in curbing illegally running hospitals and clinics. Sunita Tiwari of Jabalpur had asked in RTI for complete documents related to the registration of Dr Rajiv Jain, Star Hospital located at Malviya Chowk in Jabalpur for the year 2020 to 2021 and 2022.
Sunita told in the online hearing that she did not receive the information required in the application. Sunita alleges that her daughter died due to medical negligence and the said hospital is being run illegally by Dr Rajeev Jain. But the chief medical and health officer of Jabalpur did not provide this information to Sunita Tiwari.
On the first appeal of Sunita Tiwari, the director of health ordered the chief medical officer to provide the information but despite this, no information was provided to Sunita Tiwari. During the hearing, neither the CMO nor the health officer appeared before the commission and also did not file any reply. In view of the negligence of Jabalpur chief medical officer and health officer, the Information Commission has issued orders to pay compensation amount of Rs 5000 to Sunita Tiwari. Rahul Singh directed the commissioner, directorate of health services to pay the compensation amount Rs 5,000 within a month of receiving the order of the commission to Sunita Tiwari. Singh has said that withholding such information under Sections 8 and 9 of the Act is illegal as it is not in accordance with the Act provisions.
