The Bill for regulating clinical establishments to ensure safer health practices will be passed by Parliament in the coming monsoon session, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said. The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on May 3, 2010.

The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2010 will ensure safer health practices by regulating clinics and nursing homes across the country. Stating that patients’ safety is the casualty in over-burdened public health institutions, the minister said the passing of the bill would be a step in rectifying the situation.

“Through this bill we are aspiring to create a regulatory framework for all clinical establishments that would be entirely patient centric,” he said.

Once passed, the Bill will apply to all clinical establishments belonging to any recognised systems of medicine, as well as single doctor establishments with or without beds.

The legislation makes it mandatory for clinical establishments to provide treatment and stabilise anyone who comes in an “emergency medical condition”.

The legislation also sets up a national council, which will classify, determine and develop standards of clinical establishments.

The registration of clinical establishments will be mandatory, and the council will compile and publish a national register.

Each state will set up a multi-member state council of clinical establishments, while the registering authority will be a multi-member body at the district level. There will be two types of registration — provisional and permanent, which will be provided after standards have been notified.

The legislation also seeks to ensures that all transactions are transparent and in the public domain.