PRIVATE HEALTH CARE SECTOR THE ROCKY ROAD TO REGULATION

The private Health Care Sector comprising of hospitals, nursing homes, dispensaries/clinics, diagnostic facilities, and laboratories has proliferated in India without much regulation. But why should the private health care sector be subjected to regulation? On the face of it, there is no need for an effective regulatory and enforcement framework if private health care is used only by an affluent section of the people. This is because it is being used by those who have the capacity to pay and voluntarily opt for such a sector. In a way they are doing a favor to the poor people as the scarce resources of the public sector can be utilized fully by the poor. On the other hand, if the private sector is being used by all sections of the people irrespective of capacity to pay, then there is a need for rigorous regulation. This is because here private sector supplements the role played by the public sector. In such a situation content of regulation is more and it must manifest as to be standards for the medical establishment, medical practice and ethics, controlling costs, and protecting consumer rights. Going by the available data it is seen that at the all-India level and State level the private sector currently dominates both outpatient (OP) and inpatient (IP) care and is being used by a sizeable proportion of poor . That means the private sector supplements the role of the public sector. Therefore there is a need to check the tendency to over-refer over-test over medicate and overuse diagnostic techniques which make health care unaffordable and a major drain on the resources of the poor.