Times of India|TNN | Updated: Apr 17, 2018, 11:42 IST.
PUNE: The deadlock over licence renewal of small hospitals in the city over the issue of non-registered nursing staff is likely to be resolved soon as the civic administration has decided to give a leeway to these facilities if the Bombay Nursing Home Registration Act 1949 does not mandate the compliance.
Experts associated with the IMA, however, said the registration with the state nursing council is mandatory only for qualified nurses and not for the trained staff who have got hands-on training at the workplace.
“We have told our health authorities to study the act to see whether it is mandatory for every hospital to have nursing staff registered with the nursing council. If it is not mandatory in the act, we will take a call about giving some leeway. But the law has to be followed,” Sheetal Ugale, additional municipal commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation, told TOI.
She said the civic administration will hold a training-cum-workshop session for hospitals to ensure that there are no hassles in filling up the renewal forms. “We will hold such a session in association with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to help hospital achieve compliance as per the law,” Ugale said.
Currently, hospitals have to abide by the norms laid down by the act. “The Clinical Establishment Act has not yet been tabled in the state assembly. Even assuming that the act is passed in the next session, it provides a three-year period to implement the provisions,” experts said.
“Therefore, we are wondering on what grounds the new rules are being enforced during the registration process. The act expects only maternity hospitals to employ midwives or registered nurses,” paediatrician Jayant Navarange, IMA chairman, Pune’s medico-legal cell, said.
The IMA Pune branch has 4,500 allopathic doctors as its members. The IMA’s Hospital Board of India (HBI) has 150 small and medium hospitals as members from the city. Besides, 300 other city-based hospitals, which are not HBI members, are facing a similar problem..
“If these hospitals do not get their licences renewed, they will face severe problems. PMC might not issue birth certificate to newborns delivered at such a hospital. Moreover, if a medico-legal case arises, the doctor can be charged for working at an illegal establishment,” gynaecologist Avinash Bhutkar, adviser, HBI, IMA Pune, said.
