No law allows a civic body to seek information regarding the bills charged to a Covid19 patient, argued the Vidharbha Hospitals Association (VHA) before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. The association along with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) also argued that asking information of billings infringes their right to privacy.
A bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Avinash Gharote has ordered the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to respond to the argument and submit a detailed response by next date of hearing.
The bench was seized with a suo motu PIL along with other bunch of petitions highlighting the Covid crisis.
During the hearing, the counsel for NMC raised an issue about some of the private hospitals not complying with the norms set out by the state government in the notification issued in August 2020.
Notably, this notification, ordered private hospitals to charge 80 per cent of the total patients admitted due to Covid at "capped" rates. The notification further allowed the hospitals to charge the remaining 20 per cent patients as per their own rate card. The state had even notified the capped rates.
However, on Thursday the NMC told the judges that the private hospitals in Nagpur and the Vidharbha region weren't following the rate chart of the state for 80 per cent beds. The counsel submitted that there were several cases of overcharging. Thus, to cross check the authenticity of the complaints of overcharging the NMC had called for information by private hospitals.
"But, unfortunately, in some cases, either the information has not been provided, rather it has been refused to be provided," the counsel submitted.
Advocate B G Kulkarni for IMA disputed the submission saying that not all hospitals have denied information. He pointed out that the hospitals are finding it difficult to cope with the five days deadline stipulated by the NMC. He submitted that the authorities must consider granting at least three weeks time for the hospitals to give the desired information.
"In any case, billing done by the private hospitals is subjected to audit
through its own Auditors of NMC and therefore, in the opinion of IMA, no further information is required to be provided to the civic body, except in cases where specific complaints of over charging have been received," Kulkarni argued.
Further, Dr Pradeep Arora representing the VHA submitted that the fundamental right including privacy
right of private hospitals is violated when the information regarding 80 per cent rate capped beds and charging of bills to these patients by hospitals is requisitioned by the civic chief.
"The notification of August 2020 does
not authorise the nodal authority under the Epidemic Disease Act to call for such information. There is no law presently available which compels the hospitals to provide such information to the NMC," Arora argued.
"In fact, it is none of the business of the NMC to scrutinize the complaints of over-charging by the hospitals and if there are any grievances, those grievances must be raised by filing
appropriate proceedings in a Court of law where hospitals would be getting sufficient opportunity to defend themselves," the doctor argued.
Having heard the contentions, the judges ordered the IMA as well as the VHA to submit their arguments on an affidavit. Further, the judges ordered the NMC to respond to these arguments.
