Medical neglect hearing a let down

The public hearing by the National Human Rights Commission to hear the complaints of medical negligence turned out to be a damp squib for many who had turned up at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Deonar on Wednesday as the commission refused to hear complaints against private hospitals from Maharashtra. This left many complainants disappointed as well as angry with the NHRC. While the NHRC officials claimed they had no power to act against private hospitals, complainants said the whole exercise was meaningless if the commission was going to hear matters related only to government and civic hospitals.

The NHRC is holding a two-day ‘Public Hearing on Right to Healthcare’ for the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa and the union territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli at TISS on Wednesday and Thursday.
“The main objective of the public hearing is to hear complaints of human rights violations in the public and private healthcare services in the presence of concerned Centre and state government functionaries and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and to review key systemic and policy-related issues in order to formulate recommendations to ensure protection of health rights of the people in the country,” a statement issued by the NHRC before the event read.
However, on Wednesday, the NHRC refused to hear cases pertaining to private hospitals. There were three separate hearings for cases from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. While there were no cases against private hospitals from Gujarat, the committee hearing complaints from Rajasthan gave audience to complaints against private hospitals. However, the committee hearing complaints from Maharashtra refused to entertain complaints against private hospitals. Of the 29 complainants from Maharashtra, 10 had complaints against private hospitals.
When a few who had complaints against private hospitals raised their voice, the judge said, “We feel sympathetic but as the human rights commission cannot take cases from private hospitals we can’t help you.”
The judge then asked them to file the complaint at a consumer forum and register an FIR and then approach the commission so that it can pressurise other authorities to take steps in such cases.
Questioning the stand taken by the NHRC, one of the complainants, Shreya Milind, who had a complaint against a private hospital, said, “I had earlier approached the Maharashtra Medical Council, but did not get any help there. Now the NHRC is not helping us. Where will we go now since the commission is refusing to even hear us?