New law to regulate private hospitals soon: Harish Rao

Harish Rao assured to consider the requests from the MLAs to establish new government hospitals, recruit staff and provide better health infrastructure in their respective constituencies.

Hyderabad: The State government is planning to enact the Clinical Establishment Act in the State for regulation of private hospitals in Telangana. Finance Minister T Harish Rao made the announcement on Saturday in the Assembly after MLAs raised issues pertaining to private hospitals over irregularities and imposing hefty charges for treatment.

“There is no law to regulate private hospitals in the State. We are planning to enact a new Act to regulate them. However, our aim is to improve facilities and provide corporate healthcare for the poor through the government hospitals,” he said, during a reply to discussion on the Health department in the Assembly.

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He informed the House that the State government was establishing a government medical college in each district which will ensure presence of qualified super specialty doctors as professors, a 650-bed hospital, operation theatres and other mandatory facilities.

Besides them, the State government is setting up four super specialty hospitals in Hyderabad which will bring 4,200 beds available along with addition of 2,000 beds in NIMS. Another super specialty hospital is being constructed at Warangal to cater to the needs of people in north Telangana.

The Minister later lashed out at BJP leaders for making sweeping remarks against the medical and healthcare facilities in Telangana. He said the Centre was continuing its step-motherly treatment towards Telangana and had not sanctioned even a single government medical college or nursing college to the State in the last eight and half years. But the Centre sanctioned 26 of total 157 medical colleges being established by it in Uttar Pradesh alone.

“Recently, union Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey visited the Gadwal government hospital and criticised the State government over lack of a bathroom latch. He represents Uttar Pradesh in the Parliament, which was ranked 30th by the NITI Aayog in terms of best public healthcare and came to criticise Telangana which was ranked third,” he added.

Harish Rao assured to consider the requests from the MLAs to establish new government hospitals, recruit staff and provide better health infrastructure in their respective constituencies. He had also announced that the Ramagundam government medical college being constructed with the support of Singareni Collieries Company Limited would be named after the company.

He assured that the government will establish a separate ward and other facilities exclusively for Singareni workers and also provide reservation for their children in MBBS admission at the college.