Private hospitals protest clinical Act

Tribune Reporters

Ropar, June 23

Private hospitals in the state remained closed in protest against the implementation of the Clinical Establishment Act (CEA) today. OPDs and emergency services remained suspended from 6 am to 8 pm. The state government had given standing instructions for the implementation of the CEA in April.

After a meeting of Indian Medical Association units at Ropar and Anandpur Sahib with the Indian Dental Association, doctors said even though the CEA was passed by the government in 2010, it was subsequently and unanimously rejected by the SAD-BJP government in the Assembly.

Phagwara:On a call given by the state unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), headed by its president Dr Navjot Singh Dahiya, almost all doctors kept their clinics and hospitals shut here today.

Dr Dahyia said the IMA couldn’t understand the logic of the state government to bring in an ordinance against the medical fraternity, which had been serving the people amid the Covid crisis.

They said the Act was implemented even as the government had signed an MoU with some private hospitals for providing treatment to Covid patients.

IMAofficials said the state government had abdicated from its responsibility to provide treatment to the patients infected with Covid-19. They accused the government of extending the treatment facility to VIP patients at the cost of taxpayers. They urged the Punjab Government to scrap the notification regarding the CEA, which “if enforced will establish inspector raj and breed corruption”.