Supreme Court seeks Centre’s response on how uniform rates could be fixed in private hospitals for patient care, says that “It all depends on market forces”

Today (April 29, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) bench constituting Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice BR Gavai asked the Centre how uniform rates could be fixed in private hospitals for patient care. It said, “How can there be uniform rates even in private hospitals? It all depends on market forces. What if there was uniform fees for lawyers appearing here?” The question was posed while issuing notice to the government on petitions challenging the government’s move on prescribing uniform rates for ophthalmological procedures across the country (India). During the proceedings, Attorney General of India R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate Harish Salve, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, and Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave appeared for the Central Government, a group of hospitals, the Indian Medical Association, and one of the parties respectively.  

The top court also addressed a similar matter heard by a two-judge bench constituting Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Prasanna B Varale. This bench had remarked “All these private hospitals they say, when getting subsidized land, that they will reserve at least 25 percent beds for Economically Weaker Sections but it never happens. We have seen it many times.” Today, the bench tagged the current matter with an already pending case seeking directions to the Union government to notify rates for hospital treatment in line with rules under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010. After hearing the matter, the bench sought a response from the Centre on how uniform rates could be fixed in private hospitals for patient care.