SC Intervenes: Orders States to Regulate Medical Billing, Curb Exorbitant Pricing in Private Hospitals

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked state governments to bring in a policy to prevent overcharging of drugs and medical devices at private hospitals. Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order.

Madhya Pradesh government had constituted a three-member IAS committee to check hospital bills and medication prices in 2021. The then Bhopal collector Avinash Lawania had initiated a large-scale crackdown on private hospitals.

The SC has urged the states to implement a policy so that hospitals do not force patients to purchase necessary medical items from in-house pharmacies at higher prices, compared to notified market prices.

SC was hearing a public interest litigation highlighting issues regarding patients being compelled to buy medicines, implants, and medical devices at very high costs from hospital-affiliated pharmacies.

Although noting the issue, the court raised doubts regarding how effectively the practice could be regulated and enforced without adverse consequences. According to the petitioner, this practice constitutes blackmailing the patient and depriving him of the right to fair price.

In their PIL, the petitioners requested a direction that private hospitals must not force patients to buy medicines, devices, implants from the hospital pharmacies alone, where they are said to charge exorbitantly.

The union government replied by saying mechanisms such as Amrit and Jan Aushadhi shops sell cheap medicines at government hospitals. The Centre added that there was no compulsion for patients to purchase medicines and other things from hospitals or pharmacy chains associated with them.

In the past

During May 2021, teams of Bhopal district administration approached a private hospital in Neelbad where Rs 3 lakh was billed to a patient who was admitted for 14 days. It was discovered during inspection that an additional Rs 40,000 was billed to the patient and had to be recovered by the hospital.

A hospital in Entkhedi was compelled to refund Rs 1.4 lakh to relatives of a patient, sources said. A hospital in Kohe-Fiza was compelled to refund Rs 50,000 to relatives of a patient and Rs 15,000 to relatives of another patient. Likewise, Gautam Nagar based private hospital had refunded Rs 6 lakh in 2021.