Care to vote for your health?

An NGO's online poll to weigh public perception on the issue of regulating private medical establishments will close on Saturday; results to be given to CM for passage of a patient rights bill

Devendra Fadnavis

Healthcare as a public policy is a debate that is raising hackles not only in the United States, closer home, a Pune-based NGO has taken on the mantle. To present its demand for the passage of a patient rights bill directly to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the state health department, two weeks ago, Jan Arogya Abhiyan started an online poll that is being circulated on social media across the state to weigh the public perception on the need to regulate the private sector.

The results of this will be handed over to the authorities. Since it began circulating on June 15, it has received over a 1,000 votes, and with a day to go before it closes votes, it could be a substantial input.

Checking private sector
Dr Abhijit More, conveyor of the NGO said, "Health is the basic right that all citizens in any country should have access to. But, the private establishments are making it impossible and there is no regulation to keep a tab on it. In private hospitals, patients are forced to shell out hefty sums of money to afford treatment. Through this voting system, we are trying to register the opinion of people."

To ensure a transparent system and prevent votes from being duplicated, each voter has to submit their names with their email ids.

Question time
The online form comprises three questions in the basic yes and no format — Is the government control necessary to curb unregulated functioning of private hospitals, are concrete solutions required to improve the standard of government hospitals, and if the Maharashtra government enact a law for protection of patients' rights.

Interestingly, to ensure maximum participation from all quarters, the vote can be cast in three languages: Hindi, Marathi and English.

"It is the patients' right to have a forum to register any grievance if they are not satisfied with the treatment they are provided at a private establishment. However, none of the private hospitals have a patients' grievance redressal cell to hear out to their complaints," added Dr More.

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